


Born Beneath An Angry Star

by AddictedToTheWrittenWord



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Team Avatar - Freeform, The Gaang - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-06
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-03-14 15:43:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 121,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13593249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AddictedToTheWrittenWord/pseuds/AddictedToTheWrittenWord
Summary: When Zuko falls ill with a deadly spirit fever Katara learns her healing abilities are the only remedy for his illness. While spending time together the two develop feelings for one another, but Katara refuses to act on her feelings. Leaving Zuko to wonder if Katara will ever be able to look beyond who he was in his past, and fall in love with who he's become in the present.





	1. Fool Me Once

**Author's Note:**

> Reviews and feedback are greatly appreciated!

Katara could never sleep in at the Western Air Temple. The unfiltered sun got her out of bed as soon as it's first rising rays kissed the temple's walls. Not that it mattered Katara always woke up early wherever she was. She'd been getting up before the sun and taking care of the villagers back in the Southern Water Tribe for as long as she could remember so it seemed natural to her that she would be the one to take care of her friends in that same capacity. Everyone had their roles to play. Her role was the motherly friend. Sometimes Katara felt like she was too young to be playing such an old role; especially since she hadn't grown up with a mother her self.

It wasn't always easy being the person everyone depended on. Sometimes she'd like to be the one who got to leave things till tomorrow, stay up all night, or not worry about "that" right now. She'd like to not worry about finding Aang a firebending teacher and trust that Aang would find one himself, but she knew that she was going to have to be the one to do it, or nag Aang until he did.

She started off her morning just like she started off every other morning since she'd been here. She bathed and got dressed in front of her ice bent mirror. Being a waterbender had it's advantages when it came to personal hygiene. She was still the only person awake but she knew that the others would wake up soon and be hungry. Everyone took turns cooking, but it was usually Katara who cooked breakfast. She didn't mind she liked getting up when the moon was still out. Sometimes Katara talked to Yue and asked her to look out for their group especially her brother. Spirits knew he could use all the looking after he could get.

Taking a pair of spark rocks from a rock shelf that Toph had built she started a fire in the makeshift fire pit. Next she bent water into a cooking pot and set it over the fire pit to boil. The day was already warming up and the sky was as blue as an ocean. It was beautiful up among the sky and clouds but she missed being close to the water.

It didn't matter if it was a beach, or a swamp, or surrounded by ice floes. If it was water she felt at home near it. Sometimes she missed her home so much it ached, but that ache was a puddle in comparison to the ocean of ache she had for her mother. Her father was back with her now, but they had lost so many moments together while he was away at war. There had been so many nights where she had cried herself to sleep because her father had been so far away from her and it seemed like he was never coming back. Since being reunited they had been trying to make up for lost time. Every moment of the day that she could spend together with Sokka and her father she did and still it never felt like enough. She felt like an orphan for so long that sometimes she still felt that way. If she didn't have Sokka by her side during everything that had been going on this past year she would not have made it as far as she had. Even though he drove her crazy at times she couldn't have asked for a better big brother.

The smell of the cooking porridge woke the others up. As their little group filed into the main room of the Western Air Temple Katara bent the porridge into bowls and passed them out.

"Chit Sang and I are going fishing for tonight's dinner." Her father informed her. "What are your plans for today?"

"We're still working on finding Aang a fire bending teacher." Katara explained.

"Don't look at me." Chit Sang said. "That kid needs someone who will coddle him, and I'm more likely to throttle him."

Her father gave Chit Sang a look before responding to Katara. "I know you'll think of something. Aang's lucky to have a friend like you. I couldn't be prouder of you for helping the Avatar to end this war."

"We haven't ended it yet."

"We will. I know we will."

"Aw, porridge again." Sokka moaned. "I'm sick of eating porridge." He walked into the sunlit room with his hair rumpled and digging the sleep out of his eyes. As usual he was the last one up. He was always the last to get up in the morning.

"Be lucky we have food at all. You know how hard supplies are to get." Katara told him.

"Don't worry son Chit Sang and I are going fishing we're bound to catch something and you'll have meat for dinner."

Sokka perked up upon hearing he would have meat for dinner.

"We'd better be on our way." Their father said and bent down to give his children hugs.

As her father and Chit Sang left for their fishing trip Aang flew into the Temple on his glider. He must have woken up early and went off for a morning flight. He was always in a good mood after a morning flight, so Katara decided to take this opportunity to talk to him about finding a firebending teacher.

"I know you still don't have a firebending teacher, but I thought you could at least study Chit Sang that would at least be something." She suggested to him after he finished his breakfast.

"I don't think Chit Sang would appreciate having an audience." Aang countered.

"Maybe not, but you can't keep putting off learning firebending forever. Sooner or later you're going to have to find a teacher."

"Let's make it sooner rather than later." Toph said.

"In the meantime why don't we go shopping. We might hear something about a teacher at one of the local markets, plus I wanna get some seaweed noodles so I can make stewed seaweed fish soup." Sokka said.

Katara's mouth watered. Her brother did make the best fish soup. She'd might as well go on a supply run. Aang's mind was made up for now and all the nagging in the world wasn't going to change that.

"All right. Let's go." She said.

They took off on Appa flying above the patchwork of ground below. Sokka sat back against the saddle and was studying the new map he brought. Toph clung on to the saddle like always. She was never comfortable when her feet were off of the ground without anything to see. Aang held the reins and sat perched upon Appa's shoulders like a bird. Any minute, she knew, he could hop off Appa and go soaring across the sky like a messenger hawk. Sometimes she envied the amount of freedom that came with being an airbender. Momo flew around them freely; dipping in and out of the clouds looking for bugs to catch and eat. Katara worried about finding someone to teach Aang firebending.

"We'll shop for an hour and then meet back here in the market square." Sokka instructed.

In the market Katara found plenty of things to distract herself with. Pretty sparkling jewelry, silk robes, and fancy comb and brush sets. She tried on hair charms and gold bangles. Being among stall after stall of beautiful things always lifted her spirits. Even if she couldn't afford to buy everything she saw she just liked knowing that, despite the war, people were still able to craft such lovely works of art. She brought herself a mirrored brush and comb set, some perfumed oil, and a book called  _Love Amongst The Dragons_  that looked really intriguing.

There were no markets like this back in the south pole, maybe that's why Sokka loved shopping so much. The rest of her money she spent on food and supplies. She took time choosing her food. Smelling it, touching it, and weighing it in her hand. She had become a shrewd customer in her travels to markets all over the world. Haggling with the merchants didn't fill her with fear and dread like it used to. Given enough time and she felt like she could become a haggling master.

"Did you find everything you needed." Katara asked her brother when they met back in the market square.

"Everything but a firebending teacher." He replied.

"Oh well, Aang said, looks like we're not going to find anyone to teach me firebending today.

"Doesn't look like we're ever going to find anyone." Katara muttered as Appa flew everyone back to the Western Air Temple.

Her father and Chit Sang got back from their fishing trip only a few minutes before their group got home from shopping. Sokka left them to unpack the supplies while he went over to help gut and clean the fish.

"Momo put that fish down!" Sokka cried. "Bad lemur!"

Momo was running across the temple floor with a fish in his mouth in hopes of avoiding capture by her brother who was chasing him and waving his boomerang.

"Yeah, that'll make him come right to you." Aang remarked.

"Let him have it." Suki said. "I certainly don't want it after Momo's drooled all over it."

Katara laughed. She liked when their group had more people in it. The more people the more it felt like a community. She hadn't a feeling of community this deep since she'd left the Southern Water Tribe. It seemed like so long ago since she and her brother had found Aang trapped in that iceberg. Back when she'd been too afraid to leave her village. Now here she was half way around the world waking up next to the Avatar. She wondered what her mother would think if she could see what their lives had become. She hoped she would be as proud of her and her brother as her father was. She was doing everything that she could to make sure that their mother hadn't sacrificed her life in vain.

Once she had confessed this thought to Sokka and he told her that their mother's sacrifice would never be in vain because she died to save her life. Sokka could say that because he wasn't the cause of her mother's death. The Fire Nation hadn't been looking for him. He wasn't a waterbender, but she was. If she hadn't of been born a waterbender her mother would have never had to lie to keep her safe and she'd still be alive. Sokka didn't understand that part of the reason why she worked so hard to be the best waterbender she could be was for their mother. If she didn't try to be the best waterbender that she could she would be dishonoring her mother's legacy.

Her mother's legacy in their village had been an unforgettable one. She was beloved among all who knew her. Her mother was the kind of person who took food to sick neighbors and helped out when babies were born. Her mother remembered everyone's birthday in the village and always baked their favorite dish for them. Whenever anyone in their village needed something her mother was there to give it to them. It was often said that her mother was the most beautiful woman in their village, and Katara had to agree, but her mother wasn't just was beautiful, she was smart, funny, and generous. She was everything.

"Soup's done!" Sokka cried out.

Katara grabbed a bowl and headed over with the others where her brother was laddleing out his delicious stewed seaweed fish soup. The smell of it brought back happy memories of the times when their mother was still alive. She had been the one to show Sokka how to make the fish soup. It'd been the only thing to do with actually cooking and preparing food that he was interested in. That was back when their family had been whole before the raid on their village by the Fire Nation. She guessed that's why Sokka still made the soup to this day. It was one of the little things he had left to remind him of their mother. Thanks to the Fire Nation and increasingly to Prince Zuko she had and her family never known a moment of peace. No matter how he had tried to convenience her otherwise Zuko didn't care about peace all he cared about was war and destruction. It was the only thing he and his murderous family was good for.

Using her bending she cool down her soup and then sat down next to her father.

He smiled at her. "It's been awhile since I've had your brother's fish soup."

Her father's smile was not the same one he used to have before their mother died. It wasn't as bright or as genuine. Nor did it light up his eyes in the same way. He'd been so broke after their mother's death. She still remembered how he would walk around like a ghost and when he thought that she wasn't looking he would cry into one of her mother's coats and call out her name. He had tried so hard to keep their family whole and together, but the war had seen and end to that.

"Are you OK, Katara?" Her father asked. "You've hardly touched your soup."

"I'm fine." She said and raised the bowl of soup to her lips and quickly drank it so that her father wouldn't worry about her.

"Good." He said and stroked her hair. "I don't like seeing or your brother upset." He got up to his feet. "Why don't you and your brother go and have some fun. I'll take care of the dishes."

"Thanks dad."

Her father kissed her on the forehead. "No problem."

* * *

Besides going swimming, riding around on Appa was Katara's favorite way to stay cool on hot summer days and Appa loved getting the exercise. All morning she, Aang, Toph, and her brother put their heads together trying to figure out what to do about Aang learning how to firebend, but by the afternoon they were no closer to finding an answer to the question then they had been that morning. Now they were taking a break. Flying around on Appa and drinking a cool glass of watermelon juice was just the kind of break Katara needed.

Today she wasn't anyone's mother. Today she was just Katara a fourteen year old Water Tribe girl hanging out with her friends. She waved to Aang who was using his new staff to wind surf with. Her brother was throwing his boomerang out to watch it fly across the sky only to catch it again. Even Toph was having fun. She had brought a bunch of rocks with her and was trying to bend them in the direction she thought Sokka's boomerang was going in.

Katara stood up and bent the clouds she passed by into different shapes. There was no better feeling than painting with clouds and having the whole sky as your canvas. She cloud painted Water Tribe ships, fluffy bunnies, and flowers.

"Can we go back now?" Toph asked after awhile. "I'm starting to get wind burned and I finished by watermelon juice an hour ago."

"Yeah, me too." Sokka said. "I have to do some waterbending of my own. Watermelon juice goes right through me."

"Don't be gross, Sokka." Katara scolded.

Her brother just shrugged and brought Appa in for a landing and jumped off his back and raced for the bathroom.

"Aang, can we talk about you learning firebending now?" Sokka asked as he came back from the bathroom. "I think we should be making some plans about our future."

Katara was glad her brother had been the one to bring up the subject of firebending and not her.

"Okay, we can do that while I show you the giant Pai Sho table! Oh, you're gonna love the all-day echo chamber!" Aang said. "You haven't had a chance to see them since we got here."

"I think that'll have to wait." Toph said and turned to point to someone behind her.

"Hey, I heard you guys flying around down there, so, I just thought I'd wait for you here. I know you must be surprised to see me here." Zuko said. He was standing next to Appa looking awkward and out of place instead of ready for the kill. Appa roared and then licked Zuko twice.

After everything that she'd been through and after everything that she'd seen Katara didn't think that she could be shocked, but she was. To see Zuko standing there talking to them so calmly as if they were friends shocked her. It didn't take long however before that shock turned into anger. How did he even have the audacity?

"Not really, since you've followed us all over the world." Sokka sneered.

"Right. Well, uhhh, anyway... what I wanted to tell you about is that I've changed, and I, uhhh, I'm good now, and well I think I should join your group, oh, and I can teach firebending to you. See, I, uhhh-"

"You want to what now?" Toph asked in complete disbelief.

Good, Zuko? P _lease_  he didn't know the definition of good. People who were good didn't have to go around qualifying their goodness. They just were.

"You can't possibly think that any of us would trust you, can you? I mean, how stupid do you think we are?!" Katara shouted. She'd been foolish enough to trust him once and it turned out it was just an act to try and capture Aang. She would not let him fool her again. Just give me a reason she thought. Just give me a reason to blast you right of the edge of this temple and I will.

"Yeah, all you've ever done is hunt us down and try to capture Aang!" Sokka reminded him.

"I've done some good things! I mean, I could have stolen your bison in Ba Sing Se, but I set him free. That's something." Zuko replied. Appa seemed to agree with Zuko because he chose that moment to give him another giant lick.

"Appa does seem to like him." Toph pointed out.

"He probably just covered himself in honey or something so that Appa would lick him. I'm not buying it." Sokka replied.

Katara didn't buy it either. Zuko was up to something, but this time she was ready for him. Whatever nasty little trick he had up his sleeve she was ready for. He was incapable of being good just like every other member of his family. The fact that he'd tracked them down once again and then crawled up to the temple like a rat-viper lying in wait proved to Katara beyond a shadow of a doubt that he wasn't a good person and never would be. Every minute he stayed in her presence the angrier she got. All she could think about was how he had poured his heart out to her in Ba Sing Se and then turned around and attacked her and Aang. He was probably lying when he said he lost his mother. Only a complete and total psycho path would do something like that, and that's exactly what Zuko was. A complete and total psycho path devoid of human emotions.

"I can understand why you wouldn't trust me, and I know I've made some mistakes in the past." Zuko said calmly.

"Like when you attacked our village?" Sokka said.

"Or when you stole my mother's necklace and used it to track us down and capture us?" Katara added. Even after she had told him that was her mother's necklace he hadn't cared. If he lost his own mother then why would he do something like that? She should have seen right though him.

"Look, I admit I've done some awful things. I was wrong to try to capture you, and I'm sorry that I attacked the Water Tribe. And I never should have sent that Fire Nation assassin after you. I'm going to try and stop-."

"Wait, you sent Combustion Man after us?" Sokka snarled and pulled his boomerang out.

Katara shook her head inwardly. She wasn't at all surprised that Zuko had sent Combustion Man after them, Toph thought that it was a random attack, but Katara knew that he'd been sent by someone. She was getting sick of hearing Zuko's excuses if he didn't leave soon she was going to make him leave.

"Well, that's not his name, but-" Zuko said struggling to explain himself.

"Ohhh, sorry. I didn't mean to insult your friend!" Sokka said his voice dripping with his trademark sarcasm.

"He's not my friend!" Zuko shouted.

Katara. She rolled her eyes. She could believe that Combustion man wasn't Zuko's friends. He probably didn't have any. For one thing even when he was trying to convince them that he was a nice guy he couldn't be nice.

"That guy locked me and Katara in jail and tried to blow us all up!" Toph yelled.

Figuring that he wasn't going to have a break though with the Avatar's friends Zuko turned to the Avatar himself. "Why aren't you saying anything? You once said you thought we could be friends. You know I have good in me."

"There's no way we can trust you after everything you've done. We'll never let you join us."

"You need to get out of here. Now!" Katara shouted. She couldn't understand why he wouldn't just leave. He was probably trying to stall them or he was just waiting for the right opportunity to strike. Good luck with that. She thought. After what his sister did to Aang she was going to make sure that no member of the royal family ever harmed him again.

"I'm trying to explain that I'm not that person anymore!"

Katara narrowed her eyes. Zuko was only one person. His father's son.

"Either you leave, or we attack." Sokka warned.

"If you won't accept me as a friend, then maybe you'll take me as a prisoner." Zuko said. He dropped to his knees and raised his hands up to be bound.

"No, we won't!" Katara snarled. She had enough and bent out a powerful stream of water at Zuko. "Get out of here, and don't come back! And if we ever see you again, well, we'd better not see you again!" He was lucky she hadn't bent him off of the temple completely, but if he was stupid enough to come back then she wouldn't hesitate.

Without another word Zuko turned and walked away in defeat.

"Why would he try to fool us like that?" Katara wanted to know once Zuko was out of earshot.

"Obviously he wants to lead us into some kind of trap." Her brother explained.

"This is just like when we were in prison together at Ba Sing Se. He starts talking about his mother and making it seem like he's an actual human being with feelings."

"He wants you to trust and feel sorry for him so you let your guard down, then he strikes." Sokka assured her.

"The thing is, it worked. I did feel sorry for him. I felt like he was really confused and hurt, but obviously, when the time came, he made his choice, and we paid the price."

Fool me once shame on you Katara thought. Fool me twice, well he wasn't going to get the chance to fool her twice. She didn't trust Zuko further then she could throw Appa and she never would. She hated that he was able to sneak his way into their living space. Now the temple felt wrong and violated. It made her skin crawl. She was constantly whipping her head around looking for Zuko or his sister. She couldn't shake the feeling that any second he was going attack them all.

"We can't trust him." Katara said. "We should keep watch tonight he might come back."

"Calm down sweetness." Toph said. "Zuko wouldn't be stupid enough to try and come back again. Not with this many people protecting the temple."

"Oh he's plenty stupid all right." Katara said. "I mean how many times did he attack us when he was at a total disadvantage? If there's one true thing I know about Zuko it's that he doesn't give up."

"I'm with my sister." Sokka said. "Thinking logically, or think at all for that matter, isn't exactly Zuko's thing, so even if he was sincere it's probably best that you don't learn firebending from an idiot, but now this puts us back at square one."

"I'm not worried about Zuko." Aang said. "I'll know we'll find someone to teach me."

"O.K., but how? Time is marching on." Katara said. "If worse comes to worse we'll just have to convince Chit Sang to teach you."

"Not that again." Aang said. "You worry too much, Katara."

Someone has to she wanted to yell at Aang's retreating back. Why wasn't he more worried about learning firebending? She felt like pulling her hair out since she couldn't pull out Aang's.

"Sleep on it and something might come to us in the morning." Sokka said.

"Yeah, hopefully a firebending teach." Top replied.

Katara doubted she'd be doing too much sleeping. She was still too worked up. Seeing Zuko's face had brought back all kinds of conflicting emotions within her. Back in Ba Sing Se she had felt so close to Zuko. She had been so sure that he was genuine. He had her so convinced that he'd changed that she'd foolishly offered to heal his scar. What she thought had been a bonding moment between the two of them had been one big lie, one big lie that could have gotten Aang killed. If she'd used the water from the Spirit oasis on Zuko's lying face there was no telling what might have happened to Aang.

Now he'd come back to lie once more about wanting to be Aang's firebending teacher. As if he was really good and wanted to teach Aang. Just the thought of Zuko trying to teach Aang anything was laughable. The only thing that Zuko had taught her and her friends was to never forgive him or the Fire Nation.

.


	2. Do You know The Way To Ba Sing Se

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are greatly appreciated.

_Three Weeks Earlier_

After spending all day with the humorless council of five Katara was happy to have some time to herself. She hoped that her brother Sokka was having a much better time back home at the south pole with their father. She would have love to gone to see him but she knew Sokka needed to see their father more than she did right now. She had done a really nice thing for her brother, and because of that, she decided to do a really nice thing for herself before she dropped off the scrolls she was carrying to the Earth King. She turned to the furry companion on her shoulder. "What do you say Momo, a cup of tea before we get back to the King?"

Momo chittered his approval. Katara decided to get a cup of tea from that fancy new tea house, The Jasmine dragon, that everyone was talking about. It was said that the best tea in the world was served there. It certainly was a beautiful building Katara would give them that, and the smells that came from the tea house were divine, but until she tasted the tea she would reserve her opinion whether it was the best in the world.

"Table for two please." Katara said to the hostess at the door. Momo could get pretty unreasonable if he didn't get his own seat.

"Uncle, I need two jasmine, one green, and one lychee." A frighteningly familiar voice called out from inside the tea house.

Katara stood rooted to the spot, it couldn't be. It just couldn't! Zuko! He was here in the Earth kingdom with his uncle running a tea shop. This was bad Katara thought. This was very bad! She had to warn the king before it was too late. She turned on the spot and ran all the way back to the palace panting as she ran along the corridor. Finally she made it into the king's chambers where she saw Suki and two other Kyoshi warriors were seated on the floor.

"Thank goodness you're here Suki." She began. "Something terrible is going on. The Fire Nation has infiltrated the city. I just saw prince Zuko and his uncle! We have to tell the Earth king right away."

Suki smiled, rose to her feet, and made her way towards Katara. "Oh don't worry I'll be sure to let him know." She said in a cold droll voice that was not like hers at all.

At the sight of Azula Momo flew away screeching madly while Katara's mouth fell open. What was Azula doing in a Kyoshi warrior uniform? What had happened to Suki and the others?

Another "Kyoshi warrior" stood up, this time it was Ty Lee, she flipped effortlessly through the air and reached out and chi blocked Katara's shoulder. She fell to the floor and her leather flask of bending water spilled and leaked out all around her.

"So Zuzu is in the city too." Azula said as she, Mai, and Ty Lee stood over her body. "I think it's time for a family reunion."

Those were the eight scariest words that Katara had heard in a long time.

* * *

Katara couldn't believe how stupid she had been to let herself get captured by Azula and her flunkies. The worst part was that she had offered herself up to them on a silver platter. One hit from Ty Lee had immobilized her enough to be captured and taken down here to the crystal catacombs where Azula would surely use her as bait to capture Aang. Katara knew just as well as Azula did that her friends would come for her and fall right into Azula's trap, and if they didn't run into Azula then they'd run into Zuko. Everyday she hated the Fire Nation just a little bit more. Ozai and the royal family were nothing more than a bunch of relentless murdering warmongers.

She had to find away to escape she couldn't let her friends get caught in Azula's trap. If she or her brother captured Aang who knew what they would do to him. The only way out of the catacombs so far seemed to be to climb up the rocky slope directly in front of her, but the Dai Li had covered the entrance up with a boulder. Well one hog monkey didn't stop the show Katara thought. There had to be another way out. She began to explore the catacombs, but mostly it was too dark to see, and she couldn't find a good source of water to bend from. She had her water from the spirit oasis, but she wasn't willing to use that until she absolutely had to. She would just have to be ready and wait. Eventually Azula would comeback for her.

Time past slowly for Katara with nothing to do and no one to talk to. Being a prisoner of the Fire Nation she couldn't help but think of Hama, what if she was kept a prisoner for years and years like Hama had been; would she be above blood bending then? Would being a prisoner of war make her as hard and bitter as Hama had been? She still beat herself up for what had transpired between her and her fellow Southern waterbender, and a part of her would never forgive herself for having to send Hama back to prison. Just another thing to blame the Fire Nation for. They took everything she loved away from her. She began to pace in anger.

There was a loud rumbling sound and a second later a shaft of light appeared in the darkness of the catacombs.

"You have company." A Dai Li agent said and unceremoniously rolled someone down the rocky slope.

"Zuko!' She said shocked for a moment to see the fire prince in the same space as her and in such an undignified manner.

Zuko scrambled to his knees looking just as shocked.

"Why did they throw you in here?" Katara raged.

Zuko said nothing. He was still going over everything that had just happened to him in his mind. Just when he thought he could forget the past and live a normal life in the Earth Kingdom Azula showed up to remind him that he was not normal. He would always be Prince Zuko. He should have known after all his scar never let him forget. In his father and in Azula's eyes he was the banished prince. The shame of the Fire Nation, and he always would be.

"Oh wait, let me guess it's a trap, so when Aang shows up to save me you can finally have him in your little Fire Nation clutches." With no water to bend Katara couldn't fight, but she still wanted a war. Zuko's silence was starting to piss her off. She was angry and she wanted him to be angry too, for all of her life Zuko and the fire nation had caused her nothing but pain and suffering.

Zuko refused to take the bait especially with Katara looking angrier than a rabid wolfbat.

Katara could feel herself becoming angrier and angrier. She balled her fist and clenched her jaw so hard it was a wonder she didn't chip a tooth. She could feel her skin becoming hot and tingly the way it always did before she completely lost her temper. She wanted to strangle Zuko. How dare he be so damn calm after all the awful things he did to her and her friends.

"You're a terrible person do you know that?" She asked. "Always following us, hunting the Avatar, trying to capture the world's last hope for peace." She began pacing in circles. She was just getting started now. Fourteen years worth of pain and rage we're built up inside of her, and now that she had a target to take her anger out on she was going to take it out on him full force.

Zuko sat opposite Katara with his head bowed. What did she want him to say? Sorry seemed too weak of a word for what he had put her through. He felt helpless to change the things that his country had done to hurt so many people. The whole situation just seemed helpless and he hated feeling helpless. He was a man of plans and actions. Just sitting there with out being able to offer a solution made him feel useless. The way his family had always seen him, useless, and now he was trapped in the crystal catacombs with Katara who wanted her pound of his useless flesh.

"But what do you care?" Katara asked knowing that she wasn't going to get a response from him. "You're the Fireloard's son, spreading war, and violence, and hatred is in your blood." There she'd said it. The ugly truth about Zuko, about his father, about the entire Fire Nation.

"You don't know what you're talking about." Zuko finally said turning around slightly. Her words burned him like his father's fire had so long ago. Everyone always thought the worst of him; everyone but his uncle.

"I don't?" Katara rounded on him. "How dare you! You have no idea what this war has put me through, me personally." She was losing all of her self control, but it was no longer about control, it was about all the pain she'd been keeping bottled up inside of her since she was a little girl. Since the day of the raid on her village.

"The Fire Nation took my mother away from me." She said unable to stop the tears from falling. She touched her mother's necklace, the only thing of her mother she had left. She buried her head in her knees and cried. The Fire Nation had taken her father as well, if it weren't for the Fire Nation, he would have never had to go off and fight in a never ending war. Thanks to Zuko and his family she'd only grown up with her gran-gran, whom she loved dearly, but her gran-gran could never replace her mother. No one could.

"I'm sorry." He said turning around slowly to look at the Katara. "That's something we have in common."

Those words shocked Katara enough to stop her from crying. Zuko had lost his mother too? She never would have guessed, but at least now she understood some of his anger. She wondered how he had lost his mother.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you before." She said.

"It doesn't matter." Zuko said in a defeated voice.

"It's just that for so long now whenever I imagined the face of the enemy it was your face"

"My face." Zuko said pensively. He touched his scar. "I see."

Katara immediately felt bad. She did not know how he'd been scarred, she had heard many various wild rumors, but she never thought that perhaps it was a painful memory that had given him that scar. It might of even had something to do with how he lost his mother. That was a thought too sad for Katara to even think about. When she was talking about his face she hadn't meant his scar and she felt bad that he had thought that she did.

"No, no, that's not what I meant." Katara said coming up beside him. She noticed that he was still touching the angry red scar.

"No, that's OK. I used to think this scar marked me, the mark of the banished prince cursed to chase the Avatar forever, but lately I've realized I'm free to determine my own destiny even if I'll never be free of my mark."

"Maybe you could be free of it."

"What?"

"I have healing abilities."

"It's a scar it can't be healed."

Katara pulled the flask of spirit water out of the fur lined pocket of her dress. "This is water from the spirit oasis at the north pole. It has special properties so I've been saving it for something important. I don't know if it would work, but." She left the last part unsaid.

Zuko nodded. So long he had dreamed of being free of the burning scar. Even though the agni kai had happened years ago he could still feel the heat of his father's fiery fist blast rushing towards his face. He could still feel the sensation of the heat burning away his skin and hair. The pain had been unreal, the constant hot, fiery, throbbing feeling of his skin melting away, and the smell, he would never forget that smell as long as he lived. How could anyone forget the smell of their own flesh burning?

Katara touched Zuko's scar and she felt him shiver slightly, but he did not pull away from her. The scar tissue around his eye was warmer than the rest of his skin, and she wondered if that was a side effect of being burned with bending fire. It did not occur to Katara in that moment that she was touching the person who'd chased her and her friends across the world trying to capture Aang. He seemed so different now. he seemed, vulnerable, approachable, humbled. Human.

Zuko waited for Katara to start healing his scar. He stood there scared that it wouldn't work or that it would. He had lived so long with that scar who would he be without it? A moment later he felt her touch him. Her hands were cool and smooth, and like most waterbenders she had unbelievably soft skin.

He couldn't remember the last time someone had touched him with so much concern. He shivered and kept his eyes closed for fear that if he looked at Katara he would lose his nerve and run away from her. He did not want to run, and not just because she might be able to heal his scar, but because he liked the way she was making him feel.

* * *

"Uggh! I can't believe how stupid I am! I mean, what was I thinking? Telling them I sent an assassin after them?" Zuko said out loud to himself. He paced around his makeshift campsite. He been staying there while he tried to figure out what he was going to say to Aang and his friends to convince them that he should be the one to teach Aang firebending. Well he'd figured it out and made a mess of things as usual.

Out of all the stupid things he'd done in his life, and there had been a lot, telling Aang and his friends the truth about the third eye assassin or "combustion man" as Sokka had called him had to make the top ten.

"Why didn't I just say Azula did that? They would have believed that! Stupid!" He raged. A bullfrog, the only other living creature around for miles, croaked.

"Uggh!" Zuko grunted again at his stupidity. Aang and his friends were never going to let him join their group and why would they?

When they'd listed off all of the horrible things he'd done to them he had felt like jumping right off the Air Temple. How had he not realized what a monster he was? How had he been so blinded by his quest of honor and his father's love. His father didn't love him he only loved power.

"How am I supposed to convince these people that I'm on their side?" He asked the emptiness around him. "What would Uncle do?" He thought for a second trying to get in the mindset of his uncle. His uncle gave him the best advice that he had refused to listen to. Well he was listening this time, but his uncle wasn't around to give him any advice.

"Zuko, you have to look within yourself to save yourself from your other self. Only then will your true self, reveal itself." Zuko rolled his eyes in frustration.

"Even when I'm talking for him I can't figure out what he means." Why did his uncle have to be so damn cryptic.

"What would Azula do?" Dragons I'm desperate he thought. If I'm trying to think what Azula would think I'm  _beyond_  desperate.

"Listen, Avatar, he said out loud trying to imitate his sisters voice, "I can join your group, or I can do something unspeakably horrible to you and your friends! Your choice!"

Yeah, threatening the Avatar, that would work out real well, because it had worked so well for him in the past. Zuko stopped pacing and sat down on the ground. "I guess I'm just not that good at impersonations." He admitted. He was just going to have to be himself and somehow as himself convince Aang that he was sincere.

Even though it had been hours since Zuko had shown up at their camp Katara still felt shaky with anger and she wasn't the only one.

"Face it Aang, you're nothing but a big prize to him." Sokka said to Aang who was trying to make excuses for the blood thirsty Fire Prince's evil behavior.

"You're probably right." Aang said.

Not probably, was. Katara thought. "And what was all that crazy stuff about setting Appa free? What a liar!" She said.

"Actually, he wasn't lying." Toph spoke up.

"Oh, hooray! In a lifetime of evil, at least he didn't add animal cruelty to the list." Sokka said with false cheer.

"I'm just saying that, considering his messed-up family and how he was raised, he could have turned out a lot worse." Toph pointed out.

"You're right, Toph! Let's go find him and give him a medal. The "not as much of a jerk as you could have been" award!" Katara said her voice dripping with the same sarcastic tone her brother's usually did. What in the hell was wrong with Toph she wondered. It wasn't like she didn't know what kind of monster Zuko really was. He was probably a habitual liar too.

"All I know is that while he was talking to us, he was sincere. Maybe you're all just letting your hurt feelings keep you from thinking clearly." Toph said.

Typical stubborn earthbender Katara thought. When Toph thought she was right about something she could be like a wolfbat with a bone.

"Easy for you to say! You weren't there when he had us attacked by pirates!"

"Or when he burned down Kyoshi Island!" Sokka added.

"Or when he tried to capture me at the Fire Temple!" Aang snapped.

"Why would you even try to defend him?" Katara shouted. Sometimes she wanted to take Toph and shake the stubbornness out of her, but attempting that would only earn her a free ride into the stratosphere.

"Because Katara, you're all ignoring one crucial fact:" Toph said and poked Aang in the chest. "Aang needs a firebending teacher! We can't think of a single person in the world to do the job! Now one shows up on a silver platter, and you won't even think about it?" She stomped her feet so hard the ground around them shook.

"I'm not having Zuko as my teacher!" Aang shouted.

"You're darn right you're not, buddy." Sokka agreed.

"Well, I guess that settles that." Katara said smugly. She was glad that common sense had vetoed Toph's stubbornness.

"Ergh! I'm beginning to wonder who's really the blind one around here!" Toph said and stalked away from her friends.

There had to be someone other than Zuko. Katara thought. Maybe if they all explained to Chit Sang how important it was for Aang to learn firebendng he would change his mind. True he wasn't a master, but neither was she or Toph and Aang had learned from them just fine. At this point any firebending Aang learned would be better than none.

"Wanna go show me that pai sho table now?" Sokka asked Aang.

"Sure, then I'll show you the echo chamber. You're gonna love it!"

The two boys ran off further into the temple. Toph had stormed off awhile ago leaving Katara all by herself. She didn't have to worry about cooking because it was Haru's turn to cook dinner. It was the perfect time to start her new book. She made herself comfortable on her bed roll and began reading Love Amongst The Dragons.

Instantly she was pulled into the world of dragon Emperors and dark water spirits. She got so engrossed in the story that the whole world fell away and she lost all track of time. When she looked up from her book the sky was turning a fiery red in the setting sun. Long shadows cast across the temple floor they reminded Katara of waves. She stuffed a bookmark in her book and got up and went to dinner.

Toph was noticeably not there and Katara wondered if they should go in look for her, though it usually took Toph a good while to cool down when she was angry. She was probably somewhere in the temple smashing boulders into oblivion.

After dinner Katara helped wash and put away the dishes. She was still worried about Toph and decided that if she wasn't back first thing in the morning that she would go looking for her. She knew Toph could take care of herself, but she didn't like leaving anyone on their own for too long. Not even Toph. She had become like a bratty little sister to Katara, someone that she didn't even know she had needed in her life until she came into it.

Now there was never a dull moment, and she certainly knew how to put her brother in his place which Katara enjoyed seeing, almost as much as she enjoyed the way that Toph didn't think anyone noticed what a huge crush she had on her brother. The only person who didn't notice was Sokka himself. He thought that the reason Toph always held on him for dear life was because she was so scared of flying on Appa. Yeah, right.

Katara had written off romance. There was no time for it, and her romances never seemed to work out. There was Jet who turned out to be jerk, then changed his ways, and then died. She never told but she felt huge guilt over Jet's death. She should have stayed there and tried to heal him no matter what his friends had wanted. If she had he might still be alive. Having healing abilities felt both like a blessing and a curse. After what she'd gone through with Jet she never thought she'd feel for anyone else, but along came Haru.

She had caught feelings for him right away, but the more time they spent together the more he felt like just a friend. He was nice, smart, and they had a lot to talk about, but that was about it. Then there was Aang. He was a nice kid, but he was a kid, and even as mature as he was he still acted like he was twelve years old. No it was best she gave up on love for now, she didn't have time for it with a war to fight. Love wasn't like the books. Aunt Wu had got it wrong.

* * *

Katara was spooning out the daily rice the next morning when she noticed that everyone had come for a bowl but Toph. She handed a bowl to The Duke and asked. "Has anyone seen Toph? "

"I haven't seen her since she stormed off yesterday. " Sokka supplied.

"Maybe she's just exploring the air temple. There are some pretty fun spots to practice earthbending." Haru offered.

Katara had a nagging feeling. It wasn't like Toph to miss a meal. "I think we should go look for her."

"Let her have fun with her rocks. I'm in no rush to have her yelling at us again" Sokka said and sat down to eat his bowl of rice.

"We can go check for her! " The Duke offered.

"Yeah! I want to ride that tunnel down to the Hall of Statues again. It will work a lot better now that I fixed my brakes." Teo said.

Katara noted the bandage on Teo's head and thought if he didn't have any more sense then he was going to get what he deserved. Sokka and Aang sat down and as Katara began to give them their rice, a rumble, a shake, and a cloud of dirt announced Toph's arrival.

Katara ran in the direction of the cloud of dirt.

Toph was falling down a rock slide in front of the wall that she had just bent open.

"Toph! What happened?" Katara cried and ran over to her friend.

"My feet got burned!" She yelped.

"Oh no, what happened?" Katara wanted to know.

"I just told you, my feet got burned!" Toph repeated.

"I meant, how." She said exasperated.

"Well, I kind of went to see Zuko last night."

"You what?" Aang squawked.

"Zuko? " Katara couldn't believe it. Toph's stubbornness knew no bounds.

"Uhhh!" Sokka seemed to beyond words.

"I thought he could be helpful to us, and if I talked to him, maybe we could work something out. "

Katara began to work on Toph's burnt and swollen feet. They weren't in very good shape but she would be able to fix them.

"So he attacked you? " Sokka questioned Toph.

"Well, he did, and he didn't. It was sort of an accident."

Yeah, accidentally on purpose Katara wanted to say.

"But he did firebend at you?" Aang asked.

Knowing where Aang was going Toph sighed. "Yes."

"See? You trusted Zuko, and you got burned. Literally!" Sokka reasoned.

"It's gonna take a while for your feet to get better. I wish I could have worked on them sooner" Katara said

"Yeah, me too." Toph lamented.

She felt awful for Toph, She pretended to be tough, but Katara knew that she was in a lot of pain and discomfort. Her night was going to be a sleepless one. Zuko hadn't changed at all she thought as she moved the water over Toph's feet. He still didn't care who he hurt, It was always about power with him. He had to be the hottest flame in the fire even if that meant bending out his flame as if he were some kind of wild animal.

"Zuko's clearly too dangerous to be left alone we're gonna have to go after him." Sokka told everyone.

"I hate to go looking for a fight, but you're right. After what he did to Toph I don't think we have a choice." Aang agreed.

"He's crafty, but we'll find a way to capture him." Sokka said.

"Maybe just invite him back here. He's already offered himself up as a prisoner once."

Sokka and Aang picked Toph up from the pile of rock she'd been lying on.

"Yeah, get him to come back and say he'll be our prisoner, then we'll jump him and  _ _really__ make him our prisoner. He'll never suspect it!" Sokka shouted triumphantly as if he'd just come up with the most brilliant plan in the universe.

"You are a master of surprise, Sokka." Katara said as she followed the boys to fountain where they were taking Toph.

"Ahhh, that's the stuff. Now I know how the rest of you guys feel. Not being able to see with your feet stinks." Toph said said as she was lowered into the cooling waters of the fountain.

Aang brought over some rags to Katara so that she could rip them into to strips to bind Toph's feet. Without having to be asked her brother grabbed some of the cloths to so he could help with the bandages.

She was starting to tear a strip of cloth when she felt the whole building shake. Her brother and Aang lifted Toph out of the fountain in an instant.

"Stop!" She heard Zuko shout from somewhere on the cliff up above the temple. "I don't want you hunting the Avatar anymore! The mission is off. I'm ordering you to stop."

She knew it! She knew that Zuko would eventually come back and he'd brought Combustion Man with him. It appeared that Zuko was trying to stop him from attacking them but he wasn't listening to Zuko. For all that Katara knew this was all one big show put on by Zuko to make it look like he was on their side once again. Was there no level that he wouldn't stoop to? Katara looked up at the cliff above and watched Zuko try to physically stop the one eyed freak he'd sent after them from blowing her and her friends up. He wasn't having much success. Combustion Man just pushed Zuko away like he was an annoying fly and continued to fire at them. Their group was forced to duck behind the fountain for cover or be blown to smithereens.

"If you keep attacking, I won't pay you!" Zuko shouted. He came at Combustion Man with all of the physical force he could muster, but like an older brother in a fight with a younger one, Combustion Man stiffed armed Zuko while he flailed around uselessly trying to stop several deaths by explosion. There was so much that he had to make up for, but if anything happened to Aang or any of his friends he wouldn't be able to make up for anything or stop his father and it would be all his fault. He couldn't live with that. He ran at Combustion Man ready to firebend him right off of the cliff if he had too. What in the hell possessed him to hire this sociopath in the first place? Dragons, was he really that bound and determined to capture the Avatar?

For Combustion Man it was no longer about money it was only about the thrill of the kill. If Zuko couldn't take this him out there would be no Avatar to try and teach firebending too. He had to stop him!

"I'll pay you double to stop!" He offered in a last desperate bid of course Combustion Man didn't take the bait. So it was going to be a fight to the very end. Well so be it Zuko thought and directed a flying kick at Combustion Man but only bounced off of his massive frame. The man was built as solidly a ten ton boulder. Zuko spun around ready to attack again but Combustion Man had got the jump on him. He sent a head shot out at Zuko who barely managed to not be blown into bits by creating a fire shield. The force of Combustion Man's explosion reacting off of his shield sent him flying backwards off of the cliff.

His heart beat like a drum as felt himself free falling through the air for a moment hurtling down towards the ground below. He swept his arms out wildly hoping for anything to stop his fall. Lucky for him a huge vine was growing underneath the cliff side. Zuko reached out his arms as far as they would go and clutched on the vine until his knuckles turned white and began slowly climbing back up to the beautiful solid ground above him. He was shaking so badly he had to press his body against the vine as close as he could for fear of falling again. It was close call but he wasn't out of the fight yet.

As Combustion Man continued to shoot out explosions at them it was clear to Katara that Zuko had no control over the assassin that he'd hired. He was going to keep shooting at them till he finished the job. Katara temporarily gave up her shelter from behind the wall and ran towards the fountain and bent up a wave of water and bent the wave of water up at Combustion Man in the form of solid ice spikes.

He was ready for the attack and easily deflected her ice shards by putting his massive arm and leg in front of him like a shield. The shards of ice shattered around him like spun glass.

"He's going to blast this whole place right off the cliff side!" Toph yelled as he got off another series of explosions. This whole experience most have been ten times more terrifying for her not being able to see anything.

Katara dared to look out from the temple wall she'd been forced to take shelter behind. "I can't step out to waterbend at him without being blown up and I can't get a good enough angle on him from down here." She called out. Damn Zuko, he wanted to be on their side yet he was still causing them nothing but misery. Why in the name of Tui and La didn't he just go away and leave them alone?

"I know how to get an angle on him!" Her brother cried and pulled out his boomerang and hazarded a look around to corner. With some quick mental calculating he got an angle on Combustion man. "All right buddy, don't fail me now!" He pep talked his boomerang before he threw it.

Katara watched with bated breath as her brother's boomerang flew up towards their enemy. Sokka's aim was true and Combustion man was hit dead square in the third eye.

"Yeah, boomerang!" Sokka shouted in victory and ran out from behind the safety of the wall and jumped up to catch his boomerang. Combustion Man had been put out of commission. Now they could escape, but In the next instant Combustion man was getting back up. "Awww, boomerang." Sokka moaned.

Katara ran back behind the stone wall. She couldn't believe how quickly Combustion Man was back on his feet. What did it take to stop this guy? She waited while for him to fire at them again, and he did, but something went wrong. Katara heard a loud popping sound and then there was a massive explosion. She ran along with Sokka and Aang to see what had just happened. They stopped at the edge of the temple to see the whole building that Combustion Man had been standing above them on drop down to the earth below them.

"Did he just blow himself up?" Toph wanted to know.

"Yes." Katara confirmed. "Yes he did."

"Way to go Sokka." Toph said giving him rare compliment.

Zuko finished climbing up the huge vine thankful to still be alive. Things could have gone so much worse for everyone than they just had, and of all people to save they day, it just had to be Sokka, whom he once referred to as a peasant. Well that  _ _peasant__ had just saved his life. Wonders would never cease. Since Combustion man was now nothing more than a million tiny pieces at the bottom of the cliff Zuko figured it was safe to venture over to Aang and his friends.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but thanks, Zuko."

"Hey, what about me? I did the boomerang thing." Sokka said and pantomimed throwing a boomerang.

Zuko couldn't believe that Aang was saying thanks to him either. Did that mean he had finally forgiven him? Just in case it didn't he thought he should explain himself better. He was sure that he could now that he had more time to things things over.

"Listen, I know I didn't explain myself very well yesterday, I've been through a lot in the last few years and it's been hard. But I'm realizing that I had to go through all those things to learn the truth. I thought I had lost my honor, and that somehow, my father could return it to me. But I know now that no one can give you your honor. It's something you earn for yourself, by choosing to do what's right. All I want to do now is play my part in ending this war, and I know my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world."

He turned to Toph "I'm sorry for what I did to you. He said and bowed to her. "It was an accident. Fire can be dangerous and wild, so as a firebender, I need to be more careful and control my bending, so I don't hurt people unintentionally."

"I think you  _ _are__ supposed to be my firebending teacher. When I first tried to learn firebending I burned Katara, and after that I never wanted to firebend again. But now I know you understand how easy it is to hurt the people you love. I'd like you to teach me." Aang said and bowed to Zuko.

Zuko bowed back to Aang. "Thank you. I'm so happy you've accepted me into your group." He had done it and he had done it by being himself. Finally he could start making things right. He could help put and end to this war and end the legacy of evil that had become the Fire Nation's raison d'etre. He could restore his country's honor and live the life he always wanted to live and not the empty pack of lies his sister had tried to sell him.

"Not so fast. I still have to ask my friends if it's okay with them. Toph, you're the one that Zuko burned. What do you think?"

"Go ahead and let him join. It'll give me plenty of time to get back at him for burning my feet."

One down two to go. Zuko thought.

"Sokka?" Aang asked.

"Hey, all I want is to defeat the Fire Lord. If you think this is the way to do it, then, I'm all for it."

One to go, and this one, Katara, was going to be the hardest one. If she said no, and it very much looked like she was going to it was all over.

"Katara?"

Katara glared at Zuko, she'd rather eat the slime from a buzzard wasp nest then let Zuko join the group, but Aang was the Avatar and he did need to learn firebending. So even though every fiber of her being was screaming no she said. "I'll go along with whatever you think is right."

"I won't let you down! I promise!" Zuko said happily. Everything was changing he could feel it. The others not so much. They all walked away from him without saying a single word to him. He guess that it was going to take time. He should have anticipated this. Did he really think they'd want to sit by the fire and hold hands and sing? They might have let him into their group, but that didn't mean they were over everything that he had to them. He knew Katara wasn't not by a long shot.

* * *

Later on in what was turning out to be a very awkward and very quiet day Sokka showed Zuko to his room.

"So, here you go, home sweet home, I guess, you know, for now. Unpack? Lunch, soon? Uhhh, welcome aboard?" He said in a voice that sounded more polite than Sokka probably felt at the moment.

Zuko's suspicions were confirmed when Sokka walked out of his room and into the hallway.

"Okay, this is really, really weird." He heard him say to Aang.

Weird doesn't even begin to describe it. Zuko thought and began unpacking his bag. He took out a painting of his uncle and smiled. He put the painting by his bedside, and as he looked at it he remembered the words of wisdom his uncle had given him the very first time he'd come to the Western Air Temple.

__"You know Prince Zuko, destiny is a funny thing. You never know how things are going to work out. But if you keep an open mind, and an open heart, I promise you will find your own destiny someday."_ _

Well uncle I found my destiny. I just wish you were hear with me now. It's my fault that you're not, but I promise you I'm going to set things right between us. He smiled but his smile fell away when he realized there was someone else in the room with him. Katara. She was leaned against his doorway scowling darkly at him.

"You might have everyone else here buying your transformation, but you and I both know you've struggled with doing the right thing in the past." She said not bothering to hide her contempt for him. Her eyes bored venomously into him with every step she took towards him. "So let me tell you something, right now. You make one step backward, one slip-up, give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang, and you won't have to worry about your destiny anymore. Because I'll make sure your destiny ends right then and there. Permanently." Without another word she turned and walked away from him. She slammed the door to his room as hard as she could.

Zuko let his shoulders slump, whoever gave firebenders a reputation for being hot heads clearly never met Katara. Her temper and waterbending prowess had become exponentially deadlier since he'd last got into it with her. Thank the Spirits that he was being sincere this time, because he had no doubt that Katara meant what she said, that she would take him out of this world if he even looked at Aang the wrong way.

Welp, that was going to make for an easy nights sleep. What in the fog of lost souls he gotten himself into? Katara was going to make his life miserable and he deserved it. Atoning for his sins didn't just mean doing right, it meant dealing with the consequences of what he did wrong.

* * *

For much of his first night at the Western Air Temple Zuko tossed and turned. He dreamed about Combustion Man chasing him around the Fire Nation Palace. Much to his horror Combustion Man's face morphed into his father's.

"You should have never been born!" His father shouted. "You should have never been born." Zuko continued to run away from his father's monstrous form, but no matter how fast or where he ran he couldn't get away from his father who was dead set upon on blowing him up.

In his dream Zuko ran and ran until he was out of breath and his legs hurt so much he was barely able to run anymore. His father seemed tireless as he ran after him forcing Zuko to keep running. He ran along the halls of the Palace until he was in the royal court where the agni kai against his father had taken place. He fell down hard on his knees unable to run in more. His father loomed over him. Zuko looked up into the audience of people. Out of the sea of onlookers he was able to spot his mother and his uncle.

"Help me!" He cried. "Please. You have to help me."

"Help you?" His mother scoffed as she looked right through him. "Never. Why do you think I left the palace? My life is better without you."

"Why would I ever help a dishonorable traitor like you?" His uncle spat. "This is what you deserve."

He turned around and his father was right over top of him. He grinned wickedly and then firebent at him from his third eye.

Zuko screamed.

"Hey, hey, It's OK. Wake up."

Zuko's eyes flew open. "Hun? What?"

"You were having a nightmare." Hakoda said. He was knelt down beside Zuko's bed with one of his hand resting on Zuko's shoulder. "You were screaming in your sleep."

"I was? Sorry." Zuko said feeling suddenly embarrassed.

"It's OK I have two kids who had plenty of nightmares. I'm used to it."

"I'm not a kid!" Zuko snapped and then felt instantly remorseful. He had to learn to stop yelling at people who were only trying to help him. "Sorry. I just meant that I don't need anyone looking after me."

Hakoda gave him a look that said I beg to differ but didn't say anything.

"I should be up anyway. I'm sure there are chores that need to be done. What can I do to help?"

"Since you asked Appa's living quarters need to be mucked. Normally he takes care of his uh... business elsewhere, but last night he had an upset stomach from eating too many berries, and..." Hakoda trailed off leaving Zuko's mind to fill in the blanks.

He frowned internally. Cleaning up Appa's hot mess was the last thing in the world he wanted to do, but he wanted to show Hakoda the others that he was willing to do whatever was needed of him. Just because he was a prince didn't mean he expected special treatment. He was more than willing to pull his own weight and then some.

"Give me a second to get dressed and I'm on it."

Hakoda nodded. "I know it can't be easy staying here, but for what it's worth I believe everyone should have one chance at a second chance."

"You don't mind my being here? I figured you would hate my guts."

"I don't know you enough to make an informed decision about you yet, but it would take a lot for me to actually hate anyone." Hakoda said evenly. "I'm willing to tolerate you because of Aang and my son. If Aang trust you there must be a reason for that."

"Katara doesn't trust me."

Hakoda stared at him hard for a long time. "No, he said finally, she doesn't. There must be a reason for that as well."

Zuko didn't say anything. What was there to say? In the grand scheme of things this was the best case scenario.

"Breakfast will be starting soon. I'd suggest you eat before you start cleaning up after Appa."

Zuko nodded.

At breakfast everyone acknowledged Zuko with a nod or a hello, but no one went out of their way to be overly friendly to him either. He was the square peg in the round hole. He didn't fit. He had never fit in it was the story of his life. He didn't fit in with his father or sister. He didn't fit in the Fire Nation. His shipmates weren't his friends and also thought him strange. He had not even managed to fit in as a refugee in the Earth Kingdom.

He could pass it off as certain people just didn't get him if his not fitting in was an isolated incident, but wherever he went in the world he was always the odd man out. Whatever it was that was different about him was like something that people could smell on him. He made people uncomfortable before he even opened his mouth. It wasn't the scar either people had been acting as if they were uncomfortable around him long before his father had branded him like some common beast of burden. What was it about him that made him so different? Sometimes he thought he knew, but he was never sure where his self projection left off and the perception of others had of him started.

Zuko took his breakfast and sat in a corner alone and watched the others eat from his place in the shadows. He especially watched Aang, Katara, Sokka, Suki, and Toph. The five-some looked like it consisted of people who had known each other since birth. They looked as though they'd grown up in the same small town and went to the same school together. So that what it was to have friends. That's what it was to fit in. He smiled to himself. Perhaps one day he could be their friends too. He finished stuffing the rest of the rice in his mouth though he wasn't hungry. The ache of loneliness filled up his stomach.

He missed his uncle now more than ever. It sadden him that he'd been so stubborn and hardheaded that it took the absent of his uncle to make him appreciate how much he'd been truly loved by his uncle. All he had done in return was make his uncle suffer his wrath because his own father couldn't love him in the same way. It hurt but winning his father's love no longer matter to him. The only things that mattered now was ending the war and finding his uncle.

After he finished his breakfast he washed his own bowl and spoon and put them away.

"Suki and I was going to go into town for some supplies, do you want to come with us?" Sokka asked.

"Thanks, but I've got to go clean up after Appa."

Sokka wrinkled his nose. "Maybe next time then." Katara was standing a few feet behind her brother and Zuko saw her smile. She was enjoying that fact that he'd been the one chosen to clean up after Appa's accident. He wondered what it was going to take for her to see that he truly changed. It wasn't as if the others were treating him as a close and personal friend, but they weren't treating him like the enemy either. Katara acted as if she couldn't stand the sight of him.

Mucking out Appa's living quarters was something of a relief. It was less lonely then feeling alone in a room full of people. Appa didn't judge. He used a shovel and flung Appa's leavings off the edge of the temple. He worked quickly to be done before the sun rose too high in the sky and the stench got worse than what it already was. There was a lot to clean up and it took him the better part of the morning to get rid of it all.

"I hope you appreciate this big guy, and next time lay off the berries." Zuko said to Appa as he swiped his forearm across his sweaty forehead. When the mess had been shoveled away he got water from the fountain and scrubbed the floor and then laid down some fresh hay for Appa. The sky bison gave him a lick and Zuko turned around a petted him.

The advantage of cleaning up after Appa was that he didn't have time to think about his nightmare. Maybe that's why Hakoda had given him this task, or it could have been his way of getting payback. He still couldn't tell if Hakoda liked him or not. It didn't matter all he could think about was taking a bath to get the smell off him. If he had brought more clothes with him he would have burned his outfit.

"Thanks for cleaning up." Aang said.

"You're welcome. So when do you want to begin your lessons?"

"Right after I give you the tour of the temple."

"I've actually seen it before." Zuko admitted.

"Really? When?"

"Three years ago when you were still frozen."

"Oh." Aang's face fell. "Let's get started then I guess."

It had been only one week after his banishment when he'd first visited the Western Air Temple. His scar was still throbbing with pain and his visibility was zero thanks to the bandages he was still wearing, but he wouldn't listen to his uncle when he told him he should heal and rest. He had ignored the pain and searched every single inch of the air temple without ever seeing it or respecting it.

He had not thought of the Avatar as a person. Not thought about the pain his family and nation had caused the air nomads. The only person he had thought about was himself. It sickened him to think about how he never saw other people as humans with their own feelings. To him they were just objects to be removed in his path to capture the Avatar. Thankfully seeing the world and all of the people in it had changed all of that.

"You know what I think I will take that tour." Zuko said to Aang. He couldn't teach Aang if he didn't know him as a person.

Aang's face lit up. "Great. Do you know how to play Pai Sho?"

Zuko nodded.

"You want to play a game on the giant Pai Sho table?"

"Sure. Just let me clean up first." After he'd taken a bath and changed his clothes he met up with Aang again.

"Ready to play now?"

Zuko nodded.

"Cool." Aang cried and jumped up into the air and pumped his fist.

Zuko smiled in despite of everything that had happened to him in the last few days and followed Aang down the hallway towards the pai sho table.


	3. Burn Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are greatly appreciated.

"The next few weeks are going to be tough. Firebending takes a lot of hard work and discipline. You're not going to have much free time so before we start is there anything you'd like to do?" Zuko asked Aang. Once he started teaching Aang he didn't want to there to be any distractions or any other reasons for Aang to have to stop his training.

"Can we finishing touring the temple? There are a few things you haven't seen yet that I really want to show to you."

"OK, but when we're done and after we've had lunch, we'll start your firebending lessons, OK."

"OK. Now come on. I want to show you the hall of statues."

Zuko had always wondered what it would be like to have a little brother and in spending time with Aang he was finding out. Ever since he played a game with Aang on the giant pai sho table he'd warmed up to Zuko considerably. Zuko was enjoying seeing the Western Air temple though Aang's excited eyes. When all the lies that his country had told about air nomads were separated from the actual facts about the air nomads he could see what a rich and beautiful culture that his family had truly taken from the world. It was just another thing for him to feel guilty about and he wondered how it was that Aang could even stand to be around him. It was still a bit of a shock that he was now Aang's firebending teacher.

He strolled along the hall of statues and studied the statues of airbenders in various airbending forms.

"They were all previous airbending Avatars." Aang informed Zuko.

"So they were all you in another life." He said as he stopped in front of Avatar Yangchen.

Aang nodded.

Zuko wondered what that must be like. To have lived so many times before even if you had no memory of it, but at a drop of a hat be able to gain the knowledge of all those past life if need be. What he taught Aang now would be knowledge for future Avatars. He had better make sure what he taught Aang was useful. He still hadn't planned out any type of lesson. He figured he'd start with the basics to gauge Aang's aptitude and go from there.

"This place is truly amazing. I'm glad I'm finally seeing it as a ally and not an adversary." There was so much intricate art work within the Western Air Temple it would take Zuko as many lifetimes as Aang had lived to take it all in.

"Me too."

The two continued down the hall of statues.

"Too bad you can't form an air scooter." Aang said. "Then we could have races down the hallway."

"Yeah, too bad."

"Oh well. We can take Appa along on the air bison obstacle course. He needs the exercise."

"OK." Going along an air bison obstacle course wasn't exactly on his list of things to do today or ever, but he had asked Aang what he wanted to do so now he had to go along, besides he figured the happier Aang was the easier he would be to train.

"There you are Aang." Katara said once the two of them stepped in to the main room of the temple. "You were gone so long I was beginning to get worried about you." She shot Zuko a pointed look.

She still didn't trust him. What did she think he was going to do to Aang? He had not forgotten her warning.

"Zuko and I are going to take Appa around the obstacle course."

"Can I come too?" Sokka asked.

"It's probably better for Appa if he doesn't have a bunch of extra weight to carry. He's not even going to have his saddle for this."

"Wait, we're going to do this without a saddle?" 

"Of course. He wouldn't be very agile with as saddle on his back."

"Well what about two people?" Zuko countered.

"We'll just have to lie flat and hold on tight."

"Afraid?" Katara asked. She put her hands on her hips and arched one eyebrow.

"Of course not!"

"Mind if we watch, Aang?" Katara asked.

"No. I don't mind. You can all watch if you want to." Aang said.

"Oh I wouldn't miss this for the world."

Zuko gritted his teeth. He didn't want an audience, or at least not Katara, who was probably only coming along to see him make an ass of himself or possibly fall to his death.

He followed Aang over to the corner where Appa was waiting for them.

"Are you sure Appa is up to this?"

Aang climbed atop Appa and patted him on the back. "Appa can handle it, can't ya boy?"

Appa let out a roar.

"He's done an obstacle course before. Stop worrying."

Why did people say stop worrying? The last thing it ever did was get you to stop worrying. Zuko thought. He sighed and climbed up onto Appa despite everything inside of him telling him not to.

"Let's go Appa!" Aang cried.

The obstacle had hoops for Appa to fly thorough and walls for him to land on or fly over or under. There were also tunnels from him to fly through. Bells hung from ribbons tied to the the ceiling and walls. They were meant for Appa to hit with his tail. The ring of the bell would indicate that he'd hit his mark.

"Seems pretty rigorous." Zuko noted.

"Hold on tight." Aang said. "Appa, yip yip!"

Zuko gripped Appa's fur for all that he was worth. The first hoop came into view and Appa flew up high to fly through it then dipped down low to fly through the next hoop. Zuko felt his stomach drop like a stone. The feeling was awful and wonderful at the same time. 

"All right Appa!" Aang cried. Appa spiraled through two more hoops then veered to the side and smacked a bell with his tail. He flew up fast to land on one of the walls then preformed sort of a free fall and went through two hoops and then a tunnel. Zuko's stomach dropped again but he was getting used to the feeling. There was something addictive about it. Appa tail hit another bell and Zuko cheered out loud with Aang. He didn't know what had come over him but whatever it was he didn't hate the feeling. 

"Having fun?" Aang asked. 

Zuko could hardly believe it but he  _was_  having fun. He was actually having fun! Aang was shouting and Appa was roaring a happy roar. He could hear everyone else cheering them on and for once he wasn't worried about, well anything. Zuko couldn't even think of the last time he had fun just for the sake of having fun. Appa did a barrel roll and the room twisted around him at crazy angles. Not having control was usually not something he liked, but he could see the appeal of being an airbender. It was so freeing. He started to laugh and couldn't stop. He didn't even know what was so funny. There was just something that had been building up inside of him for so long that needed to get out.  When Appa finished the course and landed he was still laughing and tears started to roll down his cheeks. 

"Aah, Zuko are you OK?" Sokka asked.

"Clearly he's lost his mind." Toph said.

"I'm fine." Zuko said. "I was just having fun."

" _You_ were having fun?" Sokka questioned. "I didn't know you knew how to do that."

"Neither did I." He admitted. He wiped the tears away from his eyes.

Aang grinned at him. "I told you there was nothing to worry about."

"When it comes to Appa and the obstacle course, no, but remember it take a lot of discipline to master firebending. There's nothing fun about it."

"I know. I'm ready to learn whatever it is you need to teach me."

"Good. Then we can get started after lunch."

"So I guess fun time is over?" Suki asked.

Toph shook her head. "Didn't last very long."

What did they expect from him? That he would change over night? One ride on the back of Appa wasn't going to suddenly make him carefree and happy go lucky. They truly had no idea what they were up against in dealing with his father. He wished that he could be as naive as the group of them were but he'd grown up with a front row seat to his father's ruthlessness.

"Doesn't matter how long it lasted." Aang said and smiled at him. "All that matters was that Zuko had fun."

* * *

Just breathe, and-." Zuko let a fire blast rip from his fist, but like every other fire ball that he bent that day it was a dud.

"That one kind of felt hot." Aang said optimistically

"Don't patronize me! You know what it's supposed to look like!" Zuko barked.

"Sorry, Sifu Hotman."

"And stop calling me that!" He snapped at Aang.

His first afternoon firebending lesson with the Avatar was going wrong. All wrong. He seemed to have lost all control of his fire. No matter what he did or how hard he tried he could fuel nothing bigger than the smallest lick of flame. What was going on? Firebending may not have come as easy for him as it did his sister, but he had never had this much trouble firebending in his entire life.

A fool. That what he was. A damned fool. Just because he'd had one moment of happiness flying around on the back of Appa didn't mean his life had changed. When did things ever go easy for him? When did he ever not have to struggle? He should have know that the good times couldn't last. They never did. Never. Well there was no sense in putting it off any longer. There was nothing else to do at this point but tell the others. He sighed and walked back into the main room of the Air Temple. He felt like he was letting everyone down. They had taken a chance on him and now he couldn't deliver what he had promised.

"Listen everybody, I've got some pretty bad news. I've lost my stuff."

"Don't look at me I didn't touch your stuff." Toph confessed. She held up her hands as if to show Zuko she had nothing in them.

"I'm talking about my firebending. It's gone."

Katara began to laugh loudly and everyone turned to look at her.

"I'm sorry. I'm just laughing at the irony. You know, how it would've been nice for us if you lost your firebending a long time ago." She explained.

"Well, it's not lost. It's just weaker for some reason." Zuko said.

"Maybe you're not as good as you think you are." Katara said in a cutting voice.

"Ouch." Toph replied to the dead silence.

Zuko glared at her. She never missed an opportunity to cut him down. "I bet it's because I changed sides." He thought out loud.

"That's ridiculous." Katara scoffed.

"I don't know. Aang said. Maybe it isn't. Maybe your firebending comes from rage and you just don't have enough anger to fuel it the way you used to."

"Sooo, all we need to do is make Zuko angry. Easy enough." Sokka said and began to poke at Zuko with the hilt of his sword.

"Okay, cut it out!" Zuko shouted at Sokka.

Sokka, scared by Zuko's sudden verbal attack, tossed his sword up into the air and it came back down and crash landed atop of his head.

Zuko rubbed his nose in an effort to regain his self control. Sometimes he couldn't believe he was on the same side as these people. "Look, even if you're right, I don't want to rely on hate and anger anymore. There has to be another way."

"You're gonna need to learn to draw your firebending from a different source. I recommend the original source." Toph suggested.

"How's he supposed to do that? By jumping into a volcano?" Sokka wanted to know.

"No. Zuko needs to go back to whatever the original source of firebending is." Toph replied.

"So, is it jumping into a volcano?" Sokka asked hopefully.

"I don't know. For earthbending, the original benders were badgermoles." Toph explained to everyone.

"Well, this doesn't help me. The original firebenders were the dragons, and they're extinct." Zuko said.

"What do you mean? Roku had a dragon, and there were plenty of dragons when I was a kid." Aang said.

"Well, they aren't around anymore, okay?" Zuko snapped. Why couldn't Aang just take his word for it?

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry." Aang said calmly. He held his arms up as if to ward off an attack.

He sighed inwardly. He needed to calm down. Hadn't he made a promise to himself to stop jumping down the throats of people who were only trying to help him. So far he was not getting off to a very good start. "But maybe there's another way. The first people to learn from the dragons were the ancient Sun Warriors." Zuko said starting to hatch an idea in his mind.

"Sun Warriors? Well, I know they weren't around when I was a kid." Aang confessed.

"No, they died off thousands of years ago. But their civilization wasn't too far from where we are now. Maybe we can learn something by poking around their ruins." Zuko told Aang.

"It's like the monks used to tell me. Sometimes, the shadows of the past can be felt by the present."

So, what? Maybe you'll pick up some super old Sun Warrior energy just by standing where they stood a thousand years ago?" Sokka wanted to know.

"More or less. Either I find a new way to firebend,or the Avatar has to find a new teacher." Zuko reluctantly admitted.

"So what does that mean for Zuko's place in the group?" Katara asked. "If he's only here to teach Aang firebending and he can't then why is he here?"

He watched as the others sat around the fire together contemplating what Katara just said. Did he really think he was the same as them? How stupid was he to think he was actually part of the group. Now that they knew he might not be able to teach Aang firebending they were ready to sending him packing. They didn't like him or want him in their group they merely needed him.

"Even if he Zuko can't bend fire he can at least show Aang the forms." Sokka said. "There's nothing wrong not being able to bend."

Suki nodded in agreement. "And Zuko risked a lot to come find us. It wouldn't be right to kick him out."

Aang looked around at the group. "So it's settled Zuko can stay whether he can bend fire or not."

Katara didn't say anything. She just stalked away from the rest of the group.

"She's never going to warm up to me is she?"

"She will. My sister is just stubborn. Just give her sometime."

Zuko wasn't sure if all the time in the world would change how Katara felt about him. He was glad to be getting away from the temple and Katara for a little while. When he got his firebending back he'd feel even better. If he had to he could live his life without his bending but his bending had been such a part of his life it would be like giving up a part of himself. A huge part of himself. He'd worked hard to be as powerful as he was. He'd studied his forms over and over and over again while his sister had mastered them the first time she performed them. He'd practiced for hours everyday just sometimes skipping both lunch and dinner. He'd given up sleep in order to get better. He'd studied his forms when he'd been sick. He never took being a firebender for granted. After he'd been banished from the Fire Nation he'd practiced even harder to get better. To get to where he was now. At first he'd told himself he was practicing so hard in order to capture the Avatar but really it was to gain his father's respect. So that when he looked into his father's eyes he wouldn't see what an abject failure his father thought he was reflected back. Now he knew that it was never going to happen. He just wanted his firebending to be the best that it could be so that Aang would stand a chance against his father. If he couldn't get his firebending back to what it used to be then it was as if his father had already won. It would mean that every horrible thing his father said about his abilities as a firebender was true.

Zuko shook his head. No. That wasn't his legacy. No matter what he would never give up. He was down but that didn't mean he was out. There was always a way and he would find it. He would get his bending back even better than before and he would show Aang how to overpower his father's bending, and by doing that he would be showing his father once in for all that not only was he wrong about his abilities as a firebender, he was also right about what the Fire Nation and the rest of the world needed. An era of peace and kindness. He was going to fight fire with fire and he was going to win. 

He went into his room and packed a bag as quickly as possible and then went back into the main room and found Aang.

"You ready to become a firebending master?"

Aang nodded.

"Good. Then let's go get my bending back."

* * *

Katara put Love Amongst The Dragons. down after she realized that she had read the same paragraph four times in a row. It had been hours since Zuko and Aang left. She was glad that Zuko was gone, but she wished that Aang didn't have to go with him. She was so worried about him, what if this was a trap? Zuko could kill Aang and then tell them that Aang had died in some accident when they were visiting the Sun Warriors civilization. She was a fool to let the trip happen. She should have gone along with them. Zuko's reason for not being able to bend was the biggest load of steaming platypus bear crap she'd ever heard. Not that she doubted that he fueled his firebending by rage, she doubted that he was good. Zuko struggled with good.

"They'll be fine Katara." Her brother said. He'd been studying her face as she read her book in the firelight. "Aang can hold himself against Zuko if he's stupid enough to try anything, and I don't think he will."

"Why not he always has in the past."

"If Aang trust Zuko, then I do too. He's the Avatar we have to believe in him."

"I do believe in Aang, I just wished I could believe in Zuko." She stuck her bookmark in her book.

"It's time for me to start dinner." She told her brother.

"OK, but Katara, everything is going to be all right." Sokka put his arm around her and gave her a squeeze.

Katara didn't say anything, but she hoped that this was one of the times that her brother's instinct was right. She got out the plates and began dishing out the twice cooked deer boar. Everyone settled down in their usual seats, but everything seemed quieter with Aang gone.

"This tea is terrible." Toph said spilling out her cup of tea on the ground. "I wish Zuko was here. He makes the best tea."

"They've been gone awful long, haven't they?" Suki asked.

"Do any of us even know how long it takes to get ancient Sun Warrior powers?" Sokka asked. "They could be facing anything, vengeful ghost, active volcanoes, lava monsters, a series of sharp fiery-."

"We get the point, Sokka." Katara said. She couldn't stand it when her brother got carried away with his imagination because her imagination got carried away too and it made her nervous to the point of being sick to her stomach. If only Aang would come back then she could rest. "I think I'll take a bath and then go to bed." Katara announced.

"Why don't you use some of my lavender bath oil?" Suki asked. "It always relaxes me after a battle."

"Thanks Suki."

"No problem. Use as much as you want. I can always get more."

Katara added liberal amounts of oil to her bath water. If Zuko was here he could have heated up her water much faster, but she didn't want him anywhere near her and especially not when she was about to bathe. She slid back into the Toph made rock bathtub until the bubbles from the lavender oil touched the tip of her nose.

Sokka was right. Aang would be OK, and he and thought she loathed to the very thought Zuko would come back. She still wasn't entirely convinced that he didn't have some kind of hidden agenda but for now she would just have to learn how to live with him. Perhaps her brother could give her some insights into Zuko since the two of them seemed to be friends. Maybe Sokka could tell her what was going on in that complicated mind of Zuko's. She knew that Aang needed him around if he was to master firebending, but every time she saw his face all she could think of was the raid on her village. Or how he had betrayed her back in Ba Sing Se. It was said the best predictor for future behavior was past behavior and nothing about Zuko's past gave her any reason to trust him. He'd lied right to her face once who was to say he wouldn't do it again?   

* * *

It had taken all day, but he and Aang had finally found the Sun Warriors' civilization. It hadn't been an easy task either. They had dodge booby traps, been stuck in ancient goo, and been licked cleaned by creatures who Zuko didn't know where their tongues had been, only to face judgment by two spirits. Zuko had been confident that he could take the spirits whoever they were, but that's before the two flames they were supposed to offer up went out. That was before he found out that the spirits were two dragons.

He and Aang stood in the middle of the rock bridge they climbed moments ago. On either side of them were two huge rock cliffs that had two lairs carved into them. The lairs belonged to the dragons. One red. One blue, and Zuko realized they were the masters. Their power left Zuko in awe as much as it frightened him. They were so powerful, so fierce, so beautiful. They were unlike anything he had ever seen in his entire life.

"These are the masters." He said to Aang.

Aang turned his head and asked in a whisper. "Still think we can take them?"

"Ssh, I never said that." Zuko said. What if the masters were listening? Was Aang trying to get him killed? If the dragon masters knew he said that they would burn him to a crisp on the spot. The dragons weren't just the masters, they were their judges as well, and right now the dragons were judging their fates. Or at least that's what Zuko thought they were doing. He couldn't be sure because they flew out of their lairs so fast and instantly began flying circles around them. If it wasn't judgment it was more than likely an attacking maneuver. There was no way they could escape.

"Zuko, I think we're supposed to do the Dragon Dance with them."

"What ? What about this situation makes you think they want us to dance?" He whispered. The dragons probably wanted to burn the rest of his face off for the crimes his family had committed against them.

"Well, I think they want us to do something. Let's just try it." Aang reasoned.

"Fine." Zuko said grudgingly. He could not think of a better plan and there was no time to run back down the steps to get a new fire. All he could do at this point was listen to Aang and dance with the dragons. Together he and Aang began the steps of the Dancing Dragon. Beside them the red and blue dragons began to dance too. The dragons movements mirrored that of their own. Zuko's pounding heart began to ease up a little bit. Perhaps Aang was right he was the Avatar after all. The two of them just might walk down the bridge to live another day.

When the dance was done the dragons hovered right in front of their faces on either side of the bridge. Once again there was no where to go. There was nothing they could do but face their fate.

"Judgment time." The Sun Warrior Chief called out from down below where he was bowing to the dragon spirits.

The noise of their massive wings flapping was the only sound that filled the air. Zuko stood still as a statue and looked into the fierce yellow eyes of the blue dragon, and as scared as he was, he wondered how his grand-father could have killed such a wonderfully magnificent creature. He could feel Aang shaking behind him and whimpering as the red dragon stared him down.

Without warning the dragons landed on either side of the bridge reared their heads back and let forth with twin blasts of fire.

Both Zuko and Aang yelled and instinctively threw their hands up to their faces to protect them from the fire. Zuko waited for the all too familiar feels of the burning flames. He waited for the smell of burning flesh and hair, but it never came. He looked up and dared to open his eyes to see an array of the most beautiful colors that he had ever seen in his life. They were so vivid, so intense, like colors you only saw in a dream. The colors were so pure that it made him want to weep.

"Wow." Aang gasped.

"I understand." Zuko said softly as he stood in the middle of the amazing Technicolor fiery vortex.

Just as quick as they had come the dragons were gone taking their fire with them. They spiraled back into their rocky lairs.

"Their fire was beautiful. I saw so many colors, colors I've never imagined." Zuko said to Aang as they descended the steps of the bridge. It was like a living dream. He couldn't believe he didn't know all of this about his own firebending. His dad had perverted what it was so much that he didn't even know what he had inside of him could be so different to what he'd always been taught. Not anger, not hate. It was energy. It was life. It was love. It was him. He was all those things  _and_ a firebender too.

"Like firebending harmony." Aang agreed.

"Yes. They judged you, and gave you visions of the meaning of firebending. The Sun Warrior Chief explained to them as they met him at the foot of the steps of the bridge.

"I can't believe there are still living dragons. My uncle Iroh said he faced the last dragon and killed it." Zuko mused.

"So your uncle lied." Aang said.

"Actually, it wasn't a total lie." The Sun Warrior Chief told them. "Iroh was the last outsider to face they deemed him worthy and passed the secret onto him as well.

"He must have lied to protect them, so no one else would hunt them." Zuko said and his heart swelled with pride for his uncle, but it was also sliced through with pain when he thought of all the times he betrayed him.

"All this time, Aang spoke up, I thought firebending was destruction. Since I hurt Katara, I've been too afraid and hesitant. But now I know what it really is ... it's energy, and life."

"Yeah. It's like the Sun, Zuko said curling his fist, but inside of you. Do you guys realize this?" He asked the Sun Warriors.

"Well, our civilization is called the Sun Warriors ... so yeah." He quipped.

"That's why my firebending was so weak before. Because for so many years, hunting you, he stopped talking for a second to look at Aang, was my drive ... it was my purpose. Zuko suddenly realized. "So when I joined you, I lost sight of my inner fire. But now, I have a new drive. I have to help you defeat my father and restore balance to the world."

He let out two fire blast. The fire blast came to him as easily as breathing did. His fire felt different to him now that he didn't need anger to fuel it. It felt like more of a natural part of him now that it flowed freely within all of him, not just the part that was angry at the world. So this was firebending in it's truest form.

He and Aang didn't say much on the journey back home. Zuko couldn't get over the fact that his uncle had help to save the lives of the last two dragons in the world. He couldn't get over the fact that he could have gone his whole entire life without knowing what the true meaning of firebending ever was. Now he felt like a true firebender and a lot of the turmoil he had within himself began to burn away.

When the duo got back to the Air Temple everyone was waiting in the main room for two began to tell the story about what happened to them with the Sun Warriors. They were both so excited that they kept talking over each other.

"Less talking more showing." Sokka cried. "I want to see what the dragons showed you."

"Yeah, show us what the dragons showed you!" Toph shouted.

"Show us, show us, show us!" The others chanted.

"OK." Zuko said and nodded at Aang. At once they began their steps.

"With this technique the dragons showed us, Zuko and I will be unstoppable" Aang said when they finished demonstrating.

"Yeah, that's a great dance you two learned there." Sokka said his voice simply oozing with his trademark sarcasm.

"It's not a dance. It's a firebending form." Zuko thundered.

"We'll just tap-dance our way to victory over the Fire Lord." Sokka quipped and made his fingers like a pair of dancing legs.

"It's a sacred form that happens to be thousands of years old!" Zuko shouted as he made his way across the Temple toward Sokka and his smart mouth. He itched to smack the smirk off of his smug face.

"Oh, yeah ? What's your little form called?" Katara asked.

Zuko scrunched his face up before reluctantly giving her the answer. "The Dancing Dragon."

Everyone laughed.

It didn't matter though. He'd gotten his bending back, better than it ever was, and Aang had bent more fire than he ever had in his life. So even if he wasn't completely apart of team Avatar yet he was a lot closer to becoming their friends than he'd ever been. Spreading war, and violence, and hatred was not is destiny to carry on, it was his legacy to help end.


	4. Healers and Saviors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are greatly appreciated.

It disgusted Katara to see the way everyone was treating Zuko like the group's newest little darling. All because he had taken it upon himself to become the chore boy of the group everyone else seem to have forgotten his past transgressions.

Right now Zuko was helping Haru, Sokka and Aang oil the metal shutters that protected the Western Air temple form outside attacks. Her brother and Aang were joking around with him as if he were an old friend. Why couldn't they see through him? She couldn't even rage about her distrust of Zuko with Suki because she seemed to have forgiven him too despite the fact that he'd once burnt down her village. Even her father was acting civil towards Zuko.

Without anyone to vent to Katara had to stew in her anger getting more and more annoyed by everything that Zuko did while simultaneously being annoyed with herself because Zuko's looks were having an effect on her. She would have to be as blind as Toph not to notice how handsome Zuko was. As if it wasn't unfair enough that a jerk like him should be good looking he'd also been given a sexy voice. Though she would never admit that fact to anyone. Especially not Zuko. She also couldn't help but notice his body as he worked on oiling the shutters. He moved around with all the grace of a lion-panther. The muscles in his back flexed as he rubbed a cloth over one of the shutters. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up so she got a good look at his arms. He must have worked out constantly to get his muscles as well defined as they were. Not that it mattered to her. She didn't give a damn about Zuko or his well defined muscles.

She turned away from watching him. She had better things to do with her time anyway. It had been awhile since she practiced her waterbending forms and she figured that now was as good of a time as any. With everyone else engaged in their own activities it would also be easier without the myriad of interruptions she was used to dealing with.There was always someone who needed something from her.

She drew up water from the fountain and began going through her waterbending forms starting with the basics and working her way up to the more complex and intricate forms. It amazed her how much she had progressed from when she had first started learning bending. Fighting Pakku had been the turning point she felt. If she had not forced into a fight she had no doubt that she would not be as far along as she right now, but proving Pakku wrong and forcing him to eat his words about teaching girls to bend was one hell of a motivator.  

Katara's still got angry thinking about how Pakku had at first refused to train her. How after she'd come half way around the world he had dismissed her as if she were of no important consequence simply because she was a girl. She didn't take being slighted or wronged well. It was part of the reason why she was having so much trouble forgiving Zuko. All the wrongs he had committed against her and her people were bad enough but when she thought about how he had tricked her into opening up to him by making her feel sorry for him it made her blood boil. She felt as if the only reason he'd even told her about his mother was so that he could gain an edge on her. It had worked too. It worked like a charm.

She still remembered how she felt when she had touched his face. That moment in time seemed to stand still for her. She had been the one to touch him but he had touched her with his sincerity and vulnerability. For the briefest moment she'd been stupid enough to think that he really wanted to change from the monster that he was. That the trauma of losing their mothers would be something to bring them together instead it had be the thing that had pulled them apart. Now he expected her to treat him as just another person. To act as he was one of the gang. As if the whole thing in the crystal catacombs hadn't happened. He hadn't even apologized. He acted as if he'd forgotten all about that day and if he had it wouldn't have surprised Katara in the least. Zuko was a spoiled prince. Growing up the only person he ever had to think about was himself. 

Great now she was getting angry. She didn't want Zuko to have the power to control her emotions. She closed her eyes took a deep breath formed a ball of water. She focused all of her energy on the ball of water expanding and contracting it. She looked into the shimmering liquid. There was something so calming about looking in to the water.  Something so soothing. Her anger began to melt away and she continued to expand and contract the ball while raising and lowering it in front of her.

“Thanks for all of your help, Zuko. Haru said.

Aang put his hand on Zuko's shoulder "Yeah, its much easier having you help us out instead of hunting us down.” 

“I know right." Her brother agreed. "Who knew that your angry jerk exterior was hiding a helpful jerk interior.”

“I'll bet you say that to all the Fire Princes.” Zuko said eliciting laughter from all three of his companions.

The ball of water that Katara had just formed exploded splashing all over her and everyone else in the vicinity.

“Hey, watch it people are walking here!” Her brother cried out.

“Sorry.” She said and bent the water off everyone she had splashed expect for Zuko. She brushed past him bumping her shoulder into his.

Zuko used his bending to dry the water off of his clothes. He was still convinced that Katara was never going to warm up to him. Since they day he had joined the group she'd made no effort to make him feel welcome. In fact she seemed to go out of her way to let him know just how much she didn't want him around. He was trying to give her all the space and time that she needed but it wasn't easy. The Western Air Temple was big but not big enough that they could avoid each other all together. He knew that it wasn't up to him, but he preferred it if Katara didn't try and avoid him. He wished that she'd forgive him like everyone else in the group had but her forgiveness wasn't something that he could force and he had to deal with the very real consequence that she might never forgive him. 

He thought about the young Earth Kingdom boy Lee and how after Lee found out who Zuko was he shouted that he hated him. His mother wanted nothing to do with him either even thought earlier that had welcomed him into his home with open arms. They would probably never forgive him. No matter what he did from this point on they would never like him and they weren't the only ones. People all over the world hated him and they always would. There was nothing that he could do to change those people's minds but hopefully with time he'd be able to change Katara's. 

* * *

No matter how many times Katara had been woken up by loud noises she never got used to it. She sat bolt upright as the Air Temple rocked violently and parts of the ceiling rained down on her. She jumped up from her bedroll and turned toward the source of the noise. Airships. An entire fleet of airships. The Fire Nation had finally found them.

Aang reacted instantly. Taking up his glider he deflected a bomb and closed the huge metal shutters that acted as shields for the Air temple. More bombs hit the temple shaking it's whole foundation.

"Watch out!" Zuko cried out. He ran across the floor to where Katara was standing and pushed her. She fell to the floor and rolled twice before coming to a stop.

"What are you doing?" She shouted angrily at him.

"Keeping rocks from crushing you." Zuko explained rationally.

"Okay, I'm not crushed. You can get off me now!" Katara spat. She was more angry at herself than Zuko for liking the way his arms felt about her. Her heart had betrayed her by the way it fluttered when rushed across the room to save her. Even after everything he had done to her it felt right to be wrapped up in his arms to be protected by him, but it was wrong. She wasn't supposed to feel this way about Zuko. She scrambled out from underneath him and ran over to help her brother and Aang try and get a very stubborn Appa out of harms way.

"I'll take that as a thank you." Zuko said drolly.

Haru and Toph worked together an created a huge escape tunnel through one of the Air Temple walls. "Come on!" She shouted. "We can get out through here."

Appa didn't agree

"I can't get him to go in there! Appa hates tunnels!" Aang shouted over the explosion of another bomb.

"Aang, there's no way we can fly out of here." Katara reasoned.

"We'll have to find a way!" Aang demanded.

"We need to split up." Sokka said and turned to his father and the others who'd taken up temporary resident at the temple. "Take the tunnel and get to the stolen airship."

"No!" Katara shouted walking up to her father. "The Fire Nation can't separate our family again!"

"It'll be okay. It's not forever" Her father assured her.

Katara wanted to believe him, but every time they got split up it felt like forever until they saw each other again. She ran up to him and hugged him. Then climbed on top of Appa not looking back at her father because she didn't want to see him leaving again.

Sokka hugged their father as well and then grabbed Suki and the two of them hurried their way up to Appa's saddle and sat next to Katara.

Toph checked the thickness of a stone wall that was opposite the tunnel Appa was refusing to go into. "I can clear that away and we can fly out through there!" She cried.

"Um, there's an awful lot of fire in that general direction." Suki replied.

"Go ahead! I'll hold them off. I think this is a family visit." Zuko said.

Katara didn't know whether to be impressed or annoyed at Zuko's bravery. Yes they needed someone to slow the airships down but did he have to keep risking his life? She still wasn't sure how she felt about him but she was sure that she didn't want anything to happen to him. If he lost his life saving them she wasn't sure she'd ever get over it no matter what had happened in their past. Why did everything about how she felt about Zuko have to be so frustratingly complicated? 

"Zuko! No!" Aang shouted.

Zuko wasn't listening. The only thing he was focused on was his sister. She was of course the one who was leading the airship raid. He didn't now how Azula found out that he joined sides with the Avatar, but he was not surprised. His younger sister had always been one step ahead of him.

"What are you doing here?" Zuko shouted at his sister.

"You mean it's not obvious yet? I am about to celebrate becoming an only child!" She drawled. Without missing a beat she flipped over the crow's nest of the airship she was on and bent out a jet of blue fire from her feet.

Zuko dived for the floor and narrowly missed getting hit by his sisters fire blast. The building shook with the force of Azula's bending.

"Come on! We've gotta get out of here!" Sokka shouted.

They made their escape from the Western Air Temple by using part of the rock wall that Toph just cleared away as a shield for Appa.

Katara looked back to see Zuko going after his sister's airship. A well aimed blast of fire from his fist took out one of the airships propellers. He took a running leap and dived onto his sister's airship where the two began a fierce bending battle. Blue and red flames filled the air as siblings battled each other. Katara still couldn't believe how they went after each other, she and Sokka had gotten in plenty of fights growing up, but not anything like Zuko and Azula.

The rest of the airship fleet did not care about the sibling rivalry. They were too busy trying to bomb the Avatar. Katara stood up in Appa's saddle knocking bombs out of the sky with her aqua arms, while Aang struggle to fly them past the line of Fire Nation airships. Finally Aang was able to pull past the fleet of airships to the other break in fire from the airships allowed Katara to watch Zuko and his sister continue to fight. They seemed to be evenly matched. Trading blow for blow. Their expression were as different as night and day though. Zuko's face was set and determined and Azula's was playfully maniacal. It was a wonder that they didn't kill one another.

There was no way that Zuko was going to let his sister get away this time. She was just as bad as he had been when he was hunting the Avatar, worse actually since she wasn't bothered by things like her conscious or feelings for other people. Killing the Avatar was just something to check off on Azula's to do list. He bent out a huge red fireball at his sister the same time that she bent out a huge blue fire ball at him. Their blast met at the same time and reacted off of one another causing a blast that sent both siblings careening off of the airship to the ground below. Zuko tried to control his free fall but there was nothing he could do, he wasn't a gravity bender. The earth down below was rushing up to meet him fast. If he didn't think of something soon he'd never have to worry about thinking again.

Katara looked around frantically as Aang dived down in the direction that they'd seen Zuko falling.

"Do you think he made it?" Toph asked no one in particular.

"I don't know, I don't see him." Suki said.

"I see something!" Katara shouted. " Over there!"

"We're not going to reach him in time!" Sokka cried out.

"Yes we will!" Aang said. He stuck his tongue out and pulled back hard on Appa's reins. Appa dived down like a streak and flew under Zuko's falling body just in time.

Katara reached up and grabbed Zuko's hands. Though she was trembling all over Katara manged all the strength she could muster and pulled him down onto Appa's saddle. 

Zuko sat up and turned to watch his sister who was still falling towards the ground in a crazy tailspin. "She's not going to make it." He realized.

As if she had heard him speak Azula suddenly pumped a jet of blue fire from her feet and propelled herself backwards towards the cliff side. She stuck one of her metal hair pins in the rock face and it slowed her fall to a dead stop. She held herself in place her long black hair flowing in the wind as she stared at him. Taunting him with her superior ability. Whenever he thought he could beat her she was always sure to prove otherwise.

"Of course she did." Zuko said. She was Azula she always planned ahead.

Katara looked across the sky to see if any of Azula's airships were coming for them. If they were she was ready to go. She placed her hand on her flask of bending water. Zuko stood next to her his fist were clenched. He was as ready as she was to attack on sight. She still couldn't believe that he had  saved her life and helped defend the Avatar against his sister. Had he really changed or was this some elaborate kind of trick to capture Aang? She turned to look at him again, trying to see if anything in his expression would reveal his true intentions. Zuko postured had changed from up right and defensive to slack and wavering. His face was chalky white and was coated with a layer of sweat. 

"Are you all right?" Katara asked placing her hand on Zuko's shoulder.

"Yeah, you don't look so good, Sokka said, but then again I never thought you were good looking."

"I don't feel right." Zuko said softly. He closed his eyes. It was hot, why was it so hot all of a sudden? Even the wind rushing around him felt as hot as a dragon's breath. He started shaking as sweat trickled down his body and soaked into his clothes. He felt like he was being consumed. His skin was so damn hot, but on the inside he felt as cold as ice, and the combination was making him feel weak. The world swam before his eyes and things started to go hazy and white. What was happening to him? It was as if the blood inside of him was boiling and searing his skin, but his bones ached as if they were frozen solid. Dizziness crept over Zuko and he buckled to his knees, and then everything around him went black.

"Zuko!" Katara cried as his eyes rolled back in his head and he dropped to Appa's saddle faster than an earth bent boulder careening off a cliff.

Sokka peered at Zuko's prone body from over her shoulder. "What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know!" Katara cried. She bent down to feel his pulse. It was there but it was weak. 

"Can you do anything for him?" Toph asked.

"I can try." She replied. "We need to go somewhere safe, hidden, and where I can work on him." 

"I know somewhere we can go." Aang spoke up. "Taku."

"Are you sure?" Sokka asked. "Shouldn't we be staying away from the Earth Kingdom, why risk going back?

"Fire Nation troops left that area awhile ago, and there's an old woman who lives there and runs a herbalist institute-."

"Are you talking about that crazy old lady that made us suck on frogs?" Sokka interrupted. "Thanks to her I had a wart on the flap that hangs down from the back of my throat for a month!"

"Sokka, I looked at it, and I told you, there was nothing there!" Katara reminded him.

"I could feel it! It's my throatal flap!" Sokka snapped.

"Anyway, she used to help wounded Earth Kingdom troops recover. I bet she'll be able to tell us what's wrong with Zuko." Aang finished explaining.

"Fine, fine, let's forget all about our schedule to go hang out with some crazy frog woman in the mountains." Sokka grumbled.

Aang pulled on Appa's reigns changing their direction and taking the route towards Taku.

Katara gently cradled Zuko's head in her lap and pushed his sweat soaked bangs out of his eyes and prayed to the Spirits that they would make it to Taku in time. 

* * *

 

The gang reached Taku before dusk. Appa spiraled upwards to the herbalist institute. Even in the darkness Katara could tell that before the Fire Nation had ravished it, this place had flourished. At the foot of the mountain were several green houses. There were other buildings besides greenhouses. No doubt that they were the homes of the people who once lived and worked the land. Aang had told her once that the herbalist that lived there ran a medical institute where she taught students from the city herbalism. Further up in the mountains were several larger buildings. Katara guessed one of them was the institute and the other was the dormitory.

Despite the fact that Zuko was the Prince of the Fire Nation the herbalist, who's name was Chunhua, agreed to offer her help treating Zuko. Sokka and Suki carried Zuko, who was barely conscious, to a four story yellow building with a green roof that Chunhua led them too.

"Before the one hundred year war, almost all the medicines in the world came from this institute. Chunhua informed them proudly. "There were over two hundred students here studying to become herbalist."

"What happened to them?" Toph wanted to know.

"The war happened to them. More and more of my students left the institute to go aide troops on the battle field. So when I started getting troops instead of students I turned the first floor of the dormitory into a convalescent home."

They walked single file into the dormitory. The circular common room was the first thing Katara saw. It sat lower than the six bedrooms that surrounded it. Katara could see herself spending a lot of her free time in the common room. It had several comfortable couches and huge book shelves, and a pai sho table had been set up in the middle of the room. One of the walls was nothing but recesses that held plants. Most of them Katara had never seen before in her life. The kitchen was small but cozy. Herbs lined every windowsill, and shiny copper cooking pots and pans hung from the walls. No one in the world, Katara thought, made a better hearth then earthbenders. This one was carved ornately. Looking at it up close Katara could see that the carvings were of different types of plants, insects, and animals. A separate room off the kitchen had a beautiful carved stone writing desk that matched the hearth. The desk sat under a window, and if you looked out of it you could see a weeping cheery tree. She guessed that a lot of letters had been written there.

Chunhua directed them to put Zuko in the first empty bedroom on their right. The room was kept nice and tidy and the bed was made up with clean sheets and blankets.

Sokka and Suki lowered Zuko to the bed as gently as possible, yet Zuko still screamed and writhed about as if he were in excruciating pain.

"Do you know what's wrong with him?" Katara asked.

Chunhua studied Zuko's face for a moment. "This is not a natural sickness. This young man is sick with a spirit fever. It was more than likely brought on because of some critical decision he made."

"Like the fact that he stopped hunting the Avatar." Sokka said. "It messed with his firebending so I guess it could also mess with his mind."

Chunhua nodded. "He is in such conflict with the image of himself that his spirit is at war within his own mind and body."

"Can you do anything for him?" Katara gasped.

"No, nothing, he can only be cured with someone who has a knowledge of spiritual healing."

"You've got healing abilities, so that means it's up to you Sugar Queen." Toph spoke up.

"Me?" Katara said pointing to herself.

"Yes you. I can give him medicines to keep the fever down and ease the pain, but that's all the medicines can do. Only a waterbender with healing abilities can cure a spirit fever. If the fever is not contained eventually Zuko will be consumed and his mind and body will become a void. In other words his body will still be here but his spirit will be gone." Chunhua explained.

"Where will it go?" Katara asked in a small frightened voice. She looked down at Zuko. His clothes and hair were drenched with sweat and his skin looked like he had a very intense sunburn. He arched his back up off of the bed and groaned.

"In to the fog of lost souls, where his spirit will spend a lifetime imprisoned by his darkest memories.

Katara shivered, as much as she hated Zuko for the things that he'd done, she couldn't watch him suffer. If she could save him she would have to try. She couldn't live with herself if his spirit went to the fog of lost souls and she did nothing to try and stop it. Being forever trapped in your darkest memories sounded worse than death.

"OK I'll do it. Whatever it is you need me to do I will." Katara said.

"Are you sure because it's not going to be easy. It will be a lot of work for you."

Katara nodded firmly.

"Good, now let's get to work." Chunhua went out to her green house at once and began making up a potion for Zuko's fever and pain.

"Pour three drops of this into one flask of chilled bending water, and apply three times a day." She instructed Katara and gave her a medium sized glass bottle of thick green serum. "It will help the Fire Prince remain comfortable in between your sessions."

"Have you treated a spirit fever before?" Katara asked.

"I don't know if I'd call it treating." Chunhua said and dropped her head so that she was hidden behind her long gray hair. "I only made him comfortable until his spirit was lost."

"You saw someone lose their spirit?" Sokka asked absolutely dumbstruck.

"Yes I did."

Katara swallowed hard and resolved that she would cure Zuko. The haunted look on Chunhua's face told her that seeing someone lose their spirit was not an experience she wanted to have.

"We need to get his clothes off." Chunhua said to Katara.

Katara blushed for a second until Chunhua began disrobing Zuko and she saw the huge blisters that had broken out across his chest and arms.

"Treat any blisters you see with this." Chunhua pressed a small clear bottle in her hand along with a clean cloth. Katara started with the biggest blisters first. She tipped the medicine on to the rag and it gave off a strong bitter smell. When she touched the rag to Zuko's skin he winced. Katara pulled back.

"It's OK, that means it's working. I use a little bit of stinging scorpion nettle." Chunhua explained. "Its an amazing antiseptic, wouldn't want those blisters getting infected."

When Katara had finished treating all of Zuko's blisters she took out her flask of bending water, chilled it, and then added three drops of the medicine Chunhua had given her. She bent the water in the palm of her hand until it glowed and then applied it all over Zuko's body. She was glad for all of the water healing training Yugoda had given her back in the Northern Water Tribe, because Zuko was going to need it. His chi was twisted up more than a greaseberry bramble bush.

Zuko shivered and sighed in relief. For a second he managed to look up into Katara's eyes. "Am I dying?"

"Quiet dear." Chunhua said and rested her hand on Zuko's cheek. "You need to rest."

Katara continued to work the medicated water into Zuko's body until it was all gone.

"You've done all you can for him now, at least he isn't in pain anymore." Chunhua told Katara.

"How long before Zuko is on his feet again, I don't want to stay here too long." Sokka said.

"You can't put a time limit on recovering a spirit fever." Chunhua said.

Sokka sighed. "Why did he have to save Katara's life?"

"Sokka!"

"I didn't mean it like that Katara, I'm happy your alive, I just meant why did it have to be him that saved you? Now we owe him."

"Even if he hadn't saved my life, I'd still heal him Sokka." Katara snapped as she got to her knees and put her hands on her hips. She glowered at her brother.

"Of course you would." Sokka said and sighed. Maybe we should think about finding Aang a new teacher since Zuko won't be able to teach him any firebending right now." Sokka said frankly.

"He'll be able to teach Aang when he gets better. In the meantime we can work on twinkle toes' earthbending. What better place to work on it then here." Toph suggested.

"Come on children. Let's get out of here so Prince Zuko can sleep, you all look as if you could use some sleep yourselves." Chunhua said ushering everyone out. "I'll show you to your rooms."

Since Chunhua preferred to stay in her room in the green house with her cat Miyuki she gave Katara the room right next to Zuko's. Sokka's room was across from hers, and Aang had the room next to Toph's, whose room was next to Sokka's. Suki's room was on the other side of hers.

"You took care of Water tribe troops too!" Katara exclaimed as she stepped inside of her room. There were pelts on the wall and furs on the floor. There were also baskets on the dresser she recognized as Southern Water Tribe by design.

"I sure did."

"Thank you so much for giving me this room. I feel like I'm right at home."

"Good. I want all of you to feel at home here. While you're staying with me would you like me to give you some herbalist training?"

"Yes. I'd be happy to train with you."

"Good, we'll start first thing in the morning."

Chunhua left and Katara sat down on the edge of her bed and began to cry. She didn't know why exactly, only that she had never touched anyone whose chi was so twisted as Zuko's. She could still feel his chi tangled up inside of her. Zuko's chi felt the way La had behaved when Tui had been killed by Admiral Zhao. Urgent, flailing, and fragmented. What had he gone through to make it that way? The Fire Nation had been so awful to the rest of the world that she never stopped to think how awful it might have been for Zuko. She let out another sob, but at the same time felt her anger rising. Why should she cry for him? Had he once ever shed a tear for the things he had his family had done over the last one hundred years? She took a deep breath and dried up her fallen tears. She would heal him an that was wall. No more tears over Zuko. He wouldn't get her sympathy or friendship. He didn't deserve them.

As usual Katara was the first one up in the morning. After a quick breakfast she met Chunhua out in her greenhouse. Miyuki threaded herself through Katara's legs and she bent down to pet her. “Hi there pretty girl.” Katara cooed. Miyuki meowed back.

"You showed up right on time. I like that." Chunhua said. "Now let's get started shall we." 

Katara nodded. 

"First thing we'll do is learn how to make antiseptic from stinging scorpion nettle. Put this apron on and and a pair of these gloves."

Katara tied on her apron and then slipped on the green gloves that Chunhua gave her. She could see why the plant was called scorpion nettle as it resembled the tail of a scorpion.

"You've got to milk the pod at the end of the nettle in order to get any liquid out." Chunhua explained. "Grab the branch about half way up and twist it in the opposite direction of the pod. Never touch this plant without your gloves or you'll soon find out why it's has stinging in the name." 

Katara did as Chunhua instructed. 

"Once you've got a good grip on the pod roll it between your thumb and index finger till all of the juice runs out. Make sure you don't get any on your skin." 

Carefully as she could she squeezed the juice from the pod into the bowl.

"Good girl." Chunhua cried. "You're a natural at this. I knew that you would be." 

"Do you think that Zuko will recover from his spirit fever?" Katara asked. "You don't think that his spirit will be lost do you?" That was something she was not ready to face. Not now. Not ever. She thought about how she couldn't save Jet if she couldn't save Zuko there would be a part of her that would be destroyed forever. 

"The treatment you give him will largely help. It's what will keep him from dying from infection and fever and help him maintain a tether to this world, but tethers can be broken. The true battle where is soul will end up is up to Prince Zuko. He has to do his part in fighting against his own worst memories." 

Katara didn't know what Zuko's worst memories were but she had no doubt that he had a lot of them. "Well if there's one thing I know about Zuko it's that he knows how to fight against all odds." 

"That's good because he's literary in for the fight of his life." 

"Well then I'm in this fight too." Katara said. "I promise you I'll do everything I can to save him. As long as Zuko fights for his life so will I."

 


	5. Like tears from a star

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are greatly appreciated.

Zuko was excited to be back at Ember Island his favorite place in all the world. Yesterday was his father's birthday and they had a party for him at the beach house. His mom had helped him pick out a gift to give his father, but today he was going to surprise his father and give him a gift that he'd picked out all by himself, and Zuko knew the perfect present to get him, a seashell. His family loved going to Ember Island and spending time on their private beach. A seashell would remind his father of all of the good times they spent there together.

The first thing he did after eating breakfast was to change into his swimming shorts and run out onto the beach with his pail and sand shovel. The beach was filledwith seashells and he began to collect them right away. It was always a habit of his to collect as many seashells as he could find, but today he needed to find the biggest and fanciest seashell on the entire beach.

"There you are." His mother cried. "You're supposed to wait for me, remember?"

"But I had to get down to the beach right away." He said.

"What was so important that you needed to get down here without waiting for me?"

"Daddy's birthday gift."

His mom smiled. "You're going to give your father the entire beach? I don't know how we're going to wrap that."

Zuko laughed. "No, I'm going to get him a seashell!"

"Oh, well that's much easier to wrap. Do you want me to help you look?"

Zuko gave his head a vigorous shake. "I have to find it myself."

"OK, but don't go too close to the shore."

"But that's where all the best shells are." He protested. He ran towards the shore and used his sand shovel to begin digging for shells. His father came out a few minutes later and lie down on the beach blanket next to his mother. Zuko knew he had to hurry up because it would be only a few moments before his father began swimming laps in the sea. He didn't want his father to see what he was doing. He wanted his gift to be a surprise.

He dug in many different spots until finally he found it. The most perfect shell in all the world. It was huge and bright red with darker red stripes. A giant fire nautilus must have left it behind. It took him most of the day to find the seashell but he didn't care. He ran his hand over the surface. It was smooth as glass and shined like a ruby. His father loved jewelry and he knew that he would love the seashell because no one helped him pick it out he did it all by himself.

Zuko was still digging in the sand when his father went to swim his laps. He hid the most wondersome and awesome seashell under a pile of seaweed.

"Must he pervert every trip we take to the beach with his incessant need to collect every seashell he sees?" His father remarked to his mother when he saw Zuko digging in the sand.

"It's just a harmless hobby Ozai, and if it keeps him occupied and out of your hair why do you care?"

"I give the boy the best of everything and he chooses to entertain himself with filthy corpses from the oceans depths. It's no wonder the simpleton cannot preform the most basic of firebending forms."

"He can. He will. You're not giving him enough time."

"And you give him too much!"

Zuko looked back and forth between his parents. He hated when they fought over him. His mom didn't think he could tell when they were fighting over him, but he always knew. It made his stomach hurt to think about it because he knew it was his fault for being bad at his firebending forms but he didn't say a word. He knew the best thing to do when his parents fought about him was to be silent and try to make himself invisible. He dropped to his knees and sat his pail of seashells next to him. His father liked to pretend not to see him when he did things like play in the sand so it was easy to become invisible.

"How long are you going to make Zuko pay for what I've done?"

"For the rest of the son of the treacherous dog's life."

Zuko didn't know what his dad meant by treacherous dog but he knew it wasn't a nice thing to call anyone. He didn't understand why is father was so mean to his mom sometimes. Lately his father had been getting meaner and meaner. He thought maybe it was because he was so bad at his firebending forms. If he didn't get any better he would make all of the Fire Nation look bad, and if all of the Fire Nation looked bad that meant his father looked bad too.

After lunch Zuko went into the scullery and had the head cook Umeko help him to clean out all of his seashells.

"This one is for you." Zuko said and handed her a starfish. He was always sure to give Umeko something since she always helped him clean his shells.

"Thank you, Prince Zuko. You are such a polite young man."

"You're welcome." He held up his bright red nautilus shell. "This one is a gift for my dad."

"Ooh, very nice Prince Zuko. I'm sure the Fire Lord will love it."

For the rest of the day Zuko was excited. He could hardly contain himself with the secret of his father's special gift until after dinner that night. Everyone he had talked to agreed that his father would absolutely love the seashell that he had picked out.

It was hard to sit still throughout dinner but he managed it. Fidgeting around would have only annoyed his father and Zuko wanted his father to be in a perfectly good mood when he received his gift. So he waited until after the dishes were cleared and the servants were gone.

"Happy birthday, dad. I got this gift for you. All by myself."

His father stared down at him with a look of boredom and contempt on his face.

Zuko faltered not sure what to do next. He held up his treasured seashell even higher just in case his father hadn't seen it but his father refused to even look at it. Instead he turned his head and began admiring the fire in the fireplace. He tried harder to get his father to see his gift but he tripped in the process. The seashell tore from the wrapping paper dropped from his hands and broke into several pieces.

Zuko couldn't help it. He cried. He knew that he shouldn't cry. His father said it was shameful for boys to cry and he knew his father would think it especially shameful to cry over a broken seashell but he'd been so proud of it. It had taken him all day to find it and was the biggest and fanciest seashell he'd ever seen in his life. He knew his father would have been proud of it too if he could have seen it before it had smashed into pieces.

"Stop that sniveling this instant." His father commanded. Faster than Zuko or his mother could act his father's hand flew out and backhanded him across the face. Zuko fell to the ground at the force of the blow.

His mother ran forward to help him up but his father grabbed her wrists in a vice grip and held her back. "You coddle him too much Ursa. Let the little weakling be. He's got to learn to stand on his own two clumsy feet. I'll make him strong even if you won't."

"You're hurting me Ozai." His mother said.

"Good." His father said but then released his mother with a slight shove a few moments later.

Zuko's lip was bleeding and his face was still stinging but he choked back his tears he dare not let any more fall knowing it would only make his father angrier. He reached out and picked up the biggest piece of the nautilus hoping he could salvage the shell by gluing it back together but his father's booted foot came down hard on top of his hand. The piece of shell was crushed under the weight of his father's foot and painfully the shards cut into Zuko's palm. He still did not cry out.

"Leave it be." His father said. "Your days of playing beachcomber are over. You've embarrassed the Fire Nation enough with your incompetent bending. I'll not have you acting as though you are a peasant on top of that. Though you hardly qualify as such you are royalty and it's time you start acting the part."

Somewhere deep down in his subconscious Zuko was aware that he was dreaming; that what he was seeing was memories of his childhood that he could not shut off. They were as vivid as if he were there himself. The smells. The sounds. Even the feelings that he had felt at that time. He tried to wake up but it was like some invisible force was holding him down in his memories. He couldn't move or call out he couldn't do anything but watch.

* * *

Katara woke up in the middle of the night and knocked softly on Zuko's door. It was time for his second healing session. There was no answer so she knocked again. When he didn't answer for the second time she pushed her way into his room.

He was still asleep. Twisted up in his sheets just like his chi was. If Zuko's chi was this disturbed Azula's chi was probably sharper than a fish hook. She wondered if either sibling knew how to do anything just for fun.

"Zuko." She called out softly. "Zuko!"

He didn't move. Good. Katara thought. If he was sleep that would make things easy. Softly she pulled the sheets of his bed back. He was still bare chested. Katara couldn't help but notice how much broader his shoulders were or his well defined his stomach. She hated that Prince Zuko was so damn attractive. He was beyond attractive he was gorgeous, but it matter not when on the inside he was disgusting. She took the antiseptic and began treating Zuko's blisters. They still looked as large and painful as they had when they first broke out on his skin, but at least they weren't infected.

"I'm sorry I spoke out of turn!" Zuko said suddenly.

"What?" Katara asked, not even bothering to look up at Zuko as she shoved the cork back into the bottle of antiseptic.

"I meant you no disrespect." Zuko pleaded.

Katara snorted. "You could have fooled me."

"I am your loyal son." He cried.

That's when Katara realized that Zuko wasn't talking to her. He was talking in his sleep.

"I won't fight you." He cried. "No!" His hands flew up defensively towards his face and he started screaming and tears began to stream out from under Zuko's closed eyelids

With shaking hands Katara opened her flask and bent out some medicated water, she spilled some of it on her nightgown and had to bend the water out of the fabric before treating Zuko. When the medicated water touched his skin he stopped yelling at once. Katara sighed and wiped her hand across her brow. His chi had felt hot this time. It burned like a fire. It surged within Katara like an active volcano. Had the Fire Lord been the one to give Zuko his scar? Katara knew Ozai was evil, but she had assumed that he at least loved his children. To burn your own child it was, it was sadistic. Her father didn't even like to raise his voice to her.

Katara bent Zuko's tears away from his face. Then she got to her feet collected all of her healing supplies and went to her room and crashed on to her bed. She was too tired to even get undressed. She felt like she was coming down with a spirit fever herself, but it was just the lingering memories of the feeling of Zuko's chi.

* * *

Zuko woke up feeling like he'd lost an agni kai against a clan of dragons. There wasn't a part of his body that didn't feel as if it wasn't burned. What happened? The last thing he remembered was fighting his sister. Had she won? Had he been thrown in prison? He sat up quickly and cried out, but ignored the pain that tore through his body. It was inconsequential to the task at hand, escaping. Slowly he pushed himself up from the bed he'd been lying on and started for the door. His movements felt heavy and clumsy. Pain snaked it's way throughout him with every step he took. His body started to shake with the effort of walking and he had to cling to the wall for a second to regain his strength. As he stood there panting like a polar bear dog he wondered what had Azula done to him? He started walking again towards the door and felt pools of sweat dripping down his body. Inwardly he cursed himself for being so slow and disoriented.

The door to the room opened. "What are you doing out of bed, young man?" An older woman asked. A fluffy white cat stood at her side.

"Who are you? Where am I?" Zuko demanded.

"Didn't they teach you any manors at the Royal Fire Academy for boys?" Chunhua asked.

"I'm sorry." Zuko said.

"You're in Taku, and I'm Chunhua the herbalist, and this is my cat Miyuki"

Miyuki meowed hello at Zuko.

"Please lie back down. You're still very sick Prince Zuko."

That was the last thing Zuko wanted to do, but he was too weak at this point to do anything else. "What's wrong with me?"

"You have a spirit fever, a young waterbender and myself have been taking care of you."

"You mean Katara, she's been taking care of me?"

"She's the only one who can cure you. I've just been giving you medicine to control your fever and make you more comfortable."

"Thank you."

"Ah, so you do have manners after all."

Zuko nodded. "My uncle, is he here?"

"I don't think so unless your uncle happens to be the Avatar or from the water tribe."

Zuko closed his eyes. Just that little bit of walking had taken everything out of him.

"You're awake." Katara said walking through his bed room door with a tray of food in her hands.

"Uh, yeah." Zuko said. "Thank you for ah taking care of me." He rubbed the back of his hair and blushed.

"You should eat." Katara said without warmth and set a tray across his lap.

Zuko's stomach growled as he looked down at the tray of pan seared se tu ,spicy cabbage soup, and sliced moon peaches. He didn't want to seem greedy in front of mixed company, but he was so hungry that he just wanted to wolf everything down. He picked up his spoon and it shook in his hand. It took him several tries to spoon his soup in his mouth and when he finally did succeed he dropped half of the hot soup on his chest. "Aaah!"

"It's OK." Katara said. She bent out some water and applied it to his burn. "Let me cool the soup a little for you."

"Thank you." Zuko said and lifted the bowl up to drink from it. He felt embarrassed that he couldn't even feed himself properly. He set the bowl down and rested again.

"You're welcome, and when you're all healed I think it would be best if you found your uncle and the two of you went your own way."

Zuko scratched the back of his neck. "Uh, aren't you forgetting something? I'm supposed to be teaching Aang firebending."

"You? Katara scoffed. You? Don't you mean trying to kill Aang."

"I've changed, I told you a lot's happened to me lately to make me see things differently."

"Oh really, tell me enlighten Prince Zuko, what exactly do you see differently now?"

"I see that people are afraid of the Fire Nation, and not with out reason, we've caused so much pain and destruction all in the name of honor, but we have no honor, and we won't until we can learn to live in harmony with the rest of the world."

"I wish I could trust you, but the fact is I don't. Aang might, Sokka might, and Toph might, but I don't and I never will." Once he'd finished eating she collected his dishes and left the room without speaking another word.

He wanted to get up and go after Katara and ask what was it going to take for her to trust him, but he was still too weak. He cursed himself. "Who gets a spirit fever anyway?" He asked out loud. He supposed it was just a little of what he deserved. He felt sleep tugging at his eyes and fought against it. He did not want to keep falling asleep as if he were a mere baby, but there was nothing for it. Sleep won and pulled him down into his memories.

 _"Zuko, please, my love, listen to me. Everything I've done, I've done to protect you. remember this, Zuko. No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are._ "

Zuko rolled on his back and opened his eyes. He had just woken up from another dream about his mother and whenever he dreamed about her he never could fall back asleep afterwards. He threw his sheets off and step by painful step made it to the bedroom door. When he got there he had to rest for several moments. When he felt strong enough again he struggled to open his door. Once he got it opened he kept going out into the hallway and stepped down into the common room. He had to rest again, this time on one of the soft chairs and his body was slick with sweat, but he had made it. He had made it all the way outside of his room.

He kept on resting and walking resting and walking until he made it outside. The chill of the night air felt wonderful on his fevered skin. Even the fact that one of his blisters burst, and he had to stop and be sick at the pain of it, didn't diminish his victory of making it outside. He walked a little ways down the dirt path before finding a tall patch of grass to lie down in and look up at the stars. Who was he now that he wasn't trying to capture the Avatar? Just a banished prince who didn't fit in with anyone.

"Would you like a cup of jasmine tea?"

"Uncle what are you doing out here?" Zuko asked and slowly got to his feet.

His uncle continued to make his way across the moonlit mountain path. He was carrying a bamboo basket which undoubtedly carried his tea service.

"I should be asking you that question. You shouldn't be up." Iroh said and motioned him to sit down.

Knowing there was no use in arguing Zuko sat.

His Uncle poured him a cup of tea.

The aromatic smell of jasmine wafted up to his nose and made him smile. There was nothing like a cup of tea from his uncle to make everything feel right with the world.

"You are doing a good thing. An honorable thing working with the Avatar."

"They don't think so."

"They or  _her_?" His uncle questioned.

"All of them." He snapped. "Her, especially  _her_ , but why should I even care?"

"You should care because your a different person now. She cannot see that yet, but eventually she will see the difference. Do not rush what is to come."

Zuko sighed. "I've never been good at waiting."

"Let's go back inside." His uncle said. "It is not good to over tire yourself."

It was only when he got halfway to his room that Zuko realized that his uncle hadn't been there at all. He had hallucinated the whole damn thing. It was more than likely a side effect of the damn spirit fever. He lie in his bed angrier with himself then he'd been in his whole damn life. It was no wonder Katara and her friends wanted nothing to do with him. At this point he wanted nothing to do with himself.

* * *

Katara sat in the living room trying to read the copy of  _The Herbalist compendium to Curative Plants_  that Chunhua had left with her. When Chunhua had said that learning herbalism was going to be hard work she had not been lying. Never in her life had Katara imagined that there where so many curative plants in the world. How did Chunhua manage to recognize them all by sight? How would she learn to when so many of the plants looked exactly alike. Not to mention it was almost impossible with the amount of noise that Toph and Aang were making outside.

There was a loud boom that shook the whole house.

"That's not fair Toph I wasn't ready!" Aang cried.

"Pays to pay attention twinkle toes." Toph sang out merrily.

Katara rolled her eyes and picked up her book. She needed someone to quiz her on the flash cards she had just made. She was pretty sure at this point that she could at least name the ten major curative water plants and their main properties.

"Suki are you busy?" She called out and set out to find her. It didn't take long for her to find Suki. She was in Sokka's room making out with him on his bed. "Uh, never mind." She said and fled from that direction as quickly as possible. Perhaps she could just quiz herself. There was always Zuko but he was the last person she wanted to turn to. Why shouldn't she ask him she thought? He was the reason she even needed to know herbalism in the first place.

The door to Zuko's room was slightly open so Katara marched in. She took a deep breath and readied her bossy voice. The one that got results when the rest of the gang was acting up and she had to get them in line, but Zuko was dreaming again or having a nightmare. Katara wasn't sure which.

"Mom? Mom, mom!" He cried out.

Katara stood in the doorway unsure of what to do. She clutched T _he Herbalist compendium to Curative Plants_  to her chest as if that could some how shield her.

"Where's mom?"

She remembered back in Ba Sing Se when he had told her that he'd lost his mother only he never told her how. Was it his father? If he was cruel enough to burn his son there was no telling what he might have done to his wife.

"Where is she?"

Katara closed her eyes but the tears streamed down anyway just as they streamed down Zuko's face. She crept over to his bed and for a second time she bend the tears from his face. So these were Zuko's darkest memories. How awful. Even though she couldn't forgive Zuko for what he had done a part of her heart went out to him. What had happened to his mother? What kind of father did he have? At the very least she and Sokka had love growing up. What did Zuko have after his mother died? Not love. She knew that much. Katara still couldn't forgive him yet, but she couldn't hate him anymore either.

* * *

"Where is everybody?" Zuko asked Katara. He gingerly stepped down into the commons room.

"Outside trying to invent an new sport to play."

"Oh, not interested, hun?"

Katara held up a thick book. "I'm studying."

"The Herbalist compendium to Curative Plants." Zuko read out loud. "Sorry if you're missing out on fun because of me."

"Not because of you entirely."

"Good to know." He walked over to one of the chairs. He still felt shaky as he walked but he refused to ask Katara for help. She was doing enough for him already. "Need any help?"

"Are you sure it would behoove a Prince such as yourself to lower himself to help a peasant such as I?"

There was an impish smirk on Katara's face and Zuko realized that she was teasing him. "I deserved that."

Katara didn't respond she just went back to reading her book.

"Sure you don't need any help?"

Katara chewed on her lip before answering. "If you want to you can quiz me with these flash cards on the ten major curative Earth Kingdom plants. I've already memorized the ten major curative water plants."

Zuko fell into the chair across form her. "OK." He held out his hand and took the flash cards from Katara. Zuko read the names of the plants on the cards to himself first before reading them out loud to Katara and started to laugh out loud.

"What's so funny?" Katara had never heard Zuko laugh before and she was surprised to find that it wasn't an unpleasant sound. In fact it sounded quite nice. Melodic even.

"The name of some of these plants. Sneezewort, Sailor's Watery Grave, Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate, Hog-monkey puzzle, Rabaroo's paw."

"The names are silly but the plants do have their practical uses. Sneezewort is used to make a sneezing powder that clears your sinuses."

"OK, what about Sailor's Watery Grave?"

"It has amazing hydration properties. Sailors like it because the water inside of the plant stays fresh for years, but it only grows on bodies of water that look shallow but are extremely deep. So when the sailors went to gather the plants they usually drown, but it's an easy enough plant to get if you're a waterbender, unlike Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate. I'll need help when I go to gather that plant."

"If I was feeling better I'd help you out."

"Hun?"

"You said you needed help getting the plant. I would help you unless Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate makes you want to kiss someone when you go to collect it. Not that kissing you would be awful."

"What?!"

"No! I mean I wouldn't offer to help you just to kiss you. I just want to help you since ah you know you're er helping me." Zuko felt his face go red. He was just trying to make conversation and now she probably thought that he wanted to kiss her. Not that kissing Katara would be a bad thing. Now that he thought about it an image of him kissing Katara came to his mind and he blushed even deeper.

It wasn't like he didn't have eyes to notice how beautiful she was. Even when they'd been enemies he'd notice he beauty. Now that they had been spending sometime together he'd notice her inner beauty too. He noticed it in the way she held the group down. Or how she care about doing the right thing for people she didn't even know. He'd never know anyone with a heart as kind as hers.

"You taught Aang waterbending." He felt an intense and desperate need to change the subject.

"And?"

"Well, I umh was wondering do you have any advice for me to uunh help me teach Aang. So that he can ah learn from me."

"Yeah, don't kiss him."

Zuko brought his hand up to the bridge of his nose and pinched it while he counted to ten. "You know that's not what I meant. I'm just trying to help you since we're on the same side. When are you going to start treating me like it?"

Katara slammed her book shut making Zuko jump. "I think I'm all done here." She got up from her chair. "And for your information just because we're on the same side doesn't mean we have to be friends." She sashayed off to her bedroom and threw herself on her bed.

Why couldn't she sort out her feelings for Zuko? She no longer hated him, but that didn't mean she was ready to start liking him either. Or rather she didn't want to start liking him. Yet when Zuko started talking about kissing she couldn't stop her mind from conjuring up a picture of the two of them making out. Or thinking about how wonderful it would feel to be pressed up against his chest with his arms around her. What in the name of the Spirits was wrong with her? 

How did Zuko kept disarming the alarms she had put up against him? He had the sly kind of charm that made her forget why she was so damn angry with him in the first place. Everything came back to that moment in Ba Sing Se when he'd used her in order to betray Aang. She just couldn't forgive him for that. She touched her mother's necklace and wished for the millionth time in her life that she had her mother to talk to, but her mother was gone. She would never get to have those confidential mother daughter talks. She couldn't tell her mother about her first kiss with Jet. Her mother would never see how far she had progressed as a waterbender. Her mother would never see the end of the war and that was the Fire Nation's fault and some how that meant it was Zuko's fault as well. It was easier to turn her anger on Zuko, a target that she could strike out at, instead spending another day being angry at herself. Only now that she was getting to know Zuko being angry at him didn't feel as good as it used to.


	6. Time stands still and two hearts catch fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are greatly appreciated.

It was minutes before sunrise but Zuko had already been up for a couple of hours. Last night he had slept in fitful spurts after being plagued by nightmares. He rolled across his bed yanked the curtains open just in time to see the sun rising. It was one of the most beautiful sights in the world to Zuko. He could feel the blood in his veins pumping faster as the sun rose higher in the sky. The hairs on his arms stood up as if greeting the sun. It didn't matter how many sun sets he saw he never tired of seeing them. Once he'd only seen the sun as the ultimate source of power for firebending, but now he saw it as life and energy. The sun rising in the sky meant a new day and a chance to start all over again.

He pulled his robe down to his waist and lie bare chested in the sun. It reminded him of the times he lie on the beach with his mother. Back when he and Azula were young enough to be happy and going to Ember Island was something to look forward to. He had been dreaming of his family a lot lately. Mostly his mother. He'd been dreaming about her so much that it was almost like having her back in his life and that only made everything worse.

There was a knock at his door. Then Katara asked. "Are you ready for another healing session?"

"Yes, please come in."

Katara walked into the room with her usual bag of medical supplies and sat in the chair beside his bed. Chunhua and her cat Miyuki walked in right behind her.

Zuko sat up and slipped his robe around his shoulders and swung his legs over the edge of his bed. Despite not sleeping well he was regaining a lot of his energy. Miyuki jumped into his lap and curled into a ball and began purring. "Hey there Miyuki." Zuko said and petted the cat.

Katara examined his chest and arms. "Your blisters have shrunk in size considerably , and none of them are infected, that's a good sign that you're healing up nicely."

"Stinging scorpion nettle, what did I tell you." Chunhua said. "By the time you've finished your training you're going to be the finest healer the world has ever seen. Mark my words."

"After everything I've done to you I know healing me is the last thing you want to be doing, so I just wanted you to know I owe you my life." Zuko said.

"I became a healer to heal people and not to have anyone owe me anything." Katara took her flask of bending water and bent it into the palm of her hand.

Zuko watched Katara intently. He had never seen her heal him and it was amazing watching her work. Her hands glowed and she worked the water in a figure eight motion over his blisters.

"It must be nice. I've never learned anything for the sake of helping others. It was always for the Fire Nation. For our honor, for our power, for our glory." Zuko said without pathos.

"Well when your people have been slaughtered till the point of near extinction you learn to help each other out or you parish." Katara replied.

"That must have been very hard. I'm sorry."

"Sounds like you didn't have much fun growing up either." She said as she continued to work on his blisters.

"Azula had enough fun for the both of us. Everything always came easy to her. She's a Firebending prodigy, and everyone adores her. My father says she was born lucky. He says I was lucky to be born."

Katara gave a squeaky little gasp.

As soon as the words were out of his mouth Zuko felt the same sensation he had when he'd fallen off the airship and hurtled helplessly through the air. Why had he said that? What in the hell was he thinking? He certainly didn't mean to speak those words out loud. Spirits, knew he wasn't the spill your guts type, but the words came out as naturally as bending. Now Katara was looking at him like he was the last puppy to be picked out of a litter.

"I don't need luck, though. He amended. I don't want it. I've always had to struggle and fight and that's made me strong. It's made me who I am." He didn't want her pity. He'd rather her to be as angry at him as she was when they'd first met back in the Western Air Temple then for her to pity him.

"Sounds like something else we have in common." Katara said and looked up at him.

Zuko looked into Katara's eyes and she held his gaze. He felt the same rush of feelings he had for her in Ba Sing Se, or maybe they had never gone away. His heart beat a little faster in his chest and the room felt suddenly warmer. He didn't know how she felt about him, but this was the nicest she'd been to him since they got to Taku. Something had changed since she last saw him. Was she finally starting to realize that he was a changed person?

"Does he feel hot?"

"What?" Zuko and Katara questioned at the same time. Their heads simultaneously whipped around towards Chunhua.

"Does Zuko feel as if he has a fever?"

"Oh." Katara said. She looked up at Zuko and a blush crept across her face which only made him blush even harder. The two quickly looked away from each other.

"I don't have a fever!" Zuko snapped.

"All finished." Katara said and began quickly stuffing her supplies in her medical bag.

He wished that Katara wouldn't go but there was no way he was going to beg her to stay. It was just too pathetic.

"Yes perhaps you should rest now, Chunhua said, it will help you cool down." She bent down and plumped his pillows.

"I don't have a fever, and I've been resting since I got here. I can't stay in this bed one more minute. I want to go outside."

"I don't know." Katara said and turned towards Chunhua, should he be walking around outside? His shoes won't fit on his feet and if he walks around outside barefooted his blisters might get infected."

"Please, I'd really like to go outside." He needed to get out of the room. Being this near to Katara was too hard on top of everything else going on in his life. He didn't even know where he stood in Mai's life the last thing he needed was to fall for Katara."

"All right dear." Chunhua said. "I'll teach Katara how to make a poultice. Then we can bind your feet and the two of you will be free to walk around outside."

"The two of us?" Katara asked. "You're not coming?"

"Oh no. It will be far too late for someone with my poor eye sight to go walking around."

"Late?" Zuko asked. "The sun has just come up."

"Yes I know, but the main ingredient in the poultice is night blooming sand cereus."

"Let me guess the sand cereus flower only blooms at night."

"Smart boy." Chunhua said cheerfully and patted Zuko atop the head.

"You're saying I have to wait until tonight to get out of bed?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying young man. You've waited this long what's a few more hours?"

The sun. He wanted to shout at her. It had been so long since he been able to walk in the sunshine. Keeping a firebender away from the sun was like keeping a bird from flying.

"Don't worry Prince Zuko, Katara said, it's not so bad to rise with the moon."

Katara stood beside Chunhua as she examined a night blooming sand cereus. "You want cacti with the dewiest skin."

"How about this one?" Katara asked. She bent the water from the skin of a cactus and danced it across her fingertips.

Chunhua watched the water quiver and shimmer on Katara's fingers. "You have a very good eye young lady."

"Thank you." She said and bent the water back onto the cactus.

"It's good having someone to teach again, especially when I have such a willing and gifted student."

"I can only dream of growing plants like these. How do you get cacti to grow in Taku?"

"I mix lava ash in with the soil and place them directly in the sun. Then when the sun sets I set them in the direct path of the moonlight."

"It's amazing how the cactus thrives in sunlight but the flowers thrive in moonlight." Katara mused.

"Yes, not unlike you and your young prince."

"He's not my prince, he's not my friend, he's not my anything!" Katara said heatedly. She had been stroking the petals of the cereus blossom but abruptly stopped and held her hands behind her back.

"Did you know the blossom goes by another name?"

"No,what other name is it called?"

"The princess of the night."

"I'm not a princess." Katara said.

"Not yet." Chunhua shot back.

Katara didn't speak another word while they sought out the rest of the ingredients for the poultice.

Once all their ingredients were gathered they stopped in the main green house to mix up the poultice. It gave off a pleasant flowery smell when it was all mixed together.

"Toph would love this." Katara said as she gave the mud mixture a final stir.

"Yes your little earthbender friend has been having the time of her life."

"She needs the fun." Katara said. "She's so busy trying to save the world that she forgets that she's still a kid."

"What about you?" Chunhua wanted to know. "Do you remember that you're just a young lady?"

Katara smiled at being called a young lady and not a child. "Toph would say I don't know how to have fun, but I do in my own way. I have to be on top of things though, I have to. If I don't stay on top of things no one else will. It's like how Sokka has to be on top of the schedule or no one else will. We all have our roles."

"Just don't forget to set aside time to do the things you want. Sometimes it's OK to be selfish."

When they had finished making the poultice and temporary shoes for Zuko to walk around in they went back into his room.

Zuko was already dressed and sitting up on his bed ready to go. It didn't surprise Katara the Royal family ate, drank, and breathed determination. They never considered relaxation as an option.

"The time has come for you to learn how to apply the poultice. Are you ready?"

"Let's do it." Katara said.

Chunhua knelt at Zuko's feet and Katara hesitated then finally knelt down in front of his feet as well.

Zuko blushed bright. Every visit from Katara became more humiliating than the last. At least his feet weren't in the same shape they had been in when he was on the road with his uncle. The toenails were clipped and his feet were clean and didn't smell, thought the blisters probably weren't doing much for their looks; but none of that really mattered it was the fact that Katara had to kneel at his feet. He had seen the way she hesitated. He couldn't fault her for it. In fact he wouldn't have faulted her if she flat out refused, but he was glad that she didn't.

"Now slide your feet into your shoes." Chunhua instructed. "Now stand."

Zuko's "shoes" were made of tree bark and leaves. They were surprisingly comfortable. He stood up and walked around the room. The poultice and the shoes seemed to be working because he wasn't in any pain as he walked around.

"Ready to go?" Katara asked Zuko.

"Don't you want to change first?" Chunhua asked Katara. "If that mud dries on your clothes you'll never get it out, but don't worry I know plants that will lift that mud out right now."

"OK." Katara said.

"I have something you can change into. My students left the majority of their clothing behind when they went to go help the soldiers."

Katara followed Chunhua out of Zuko's room, but she wasn't fooled for a minute, Chunhua had ulterior motives. Well she could try and play match maker all she wanted but nothing was going to change her feelings about Zuko. Only they already had changed, but they weren't feelings of lust or even like. She just didn't hate him. Part of her felt for him and even understood him, but what she was feeling for him wasn't like. She told herself. She wasn't going to start liking him. Not again.

"How about this?" Chunhua asked. She held up a blue cap sleeved silk dress she had pulled out of a wardrobe in Toph's room. She held the dress next to Katara and the flowing circle skirt fell down just past her knees.

Katara wanted to say no. It was far too beautiful of a dress to just walk around in. It was the kind of dress you would wear on a date. A very special and expensive date. This was neither. She was just going on a walk with a young handsome prince who wasn't even her friend. On the other hand when would she ever get the chance to wear a dress like this? It wasn't as formal as the dress she wore when she went to see the Earth King's bear, but it was still far more expensive of a dress than she could have ever afforded.

"Go ahead." Chunhua said like a corrupt fairy godmother. "Remember it's OK to be selfish sometimes."

Katara didn't need much more coaxing than that. After a quick bath in flowers she'd picked herself she slipped on the beautiful blue dress. She took out her hair "loopies" and brushed out her hair and then pulled it up in the matching blue combs that had come with the dress.

"Don't you look as pretty as a river lily." Chunhua said as she stood her before a mirror.

Katara smiled at herself. She did look amazing and dressing up in nice things had always gone a long way in lifting her spirits.

Zuko was pacing the room as he waited for Katara to get back, but as soon as he saw her he stopped pacing. She had changed clothes and she looked beautiful.

"You look very-much ah liked you um changed clothes." Zuko said and cringed. Why did he have to have the knack for saying exactly the wrong thing at exactly the right time?

"Are you ready to go?" Katara asked him for the second time that night.

"Yes." Zuko said. A stampede of saber-tooth moose lions couldn't have kept in from going outside.

"What do you say, twice around the dormitory then back inside?"

"Third times the charm." Zuko quipped.

"OK. Three times around and then back inside." Katara agreed.

Zuko nodded and they started their first trip around the dormitory. He was slower than normal, but at least he could walk unaided. Still Katara stayed right beside him scared that he might faint or fall.

"So." Zuko said as the duo completed their first trip around the dormitory. "Sure is quiet out here."

"That's a good thing. Usually Toph is making enough noise for ten people."

"She's still teaching Aang earthbending?"

"Yes, to be honest his waterbending could still use a little work."

"His firebending needs a lot of work, I guess I'm not helping him become any better by getting sick like this."

"Just as long as he learns."

"He will. He's very good actually, when I can get him to pay attention."

"You can't be too hard on Aang. You have to take things at his level and give him constant confirmations. Lots of positive reinforcements."

Zuko laughed.

"What's so funny?" Katara wanted to know.

"Nothing. It's just you sound like his mother."

"Well someone has to look out for Aang."

"I know. You made that abundantly clear back at the Western Air Temple."

"What I said still stands." Katara reminded him.

"What I said still stands, too. I'm not the same confused kid who chased you half way around the world. I want to end this war."

They walked on in a not completely uncomfortable silence.

"Would you like a cup of tea?" Zuko asked when they'd finished with their walk. "It's nowhere as good as my uncle's but I've learned how to make a pretty good cup of tea."

"I'd like that." Katara said.

There was no signs of the rest of the gang in the house. "Where's everyone else?" Zuko asked as he made his way into the kitchen.

Katara held up a note written by her brother. "Flying around on Appa. He gets restless if he goes too long without flying."

"Good. I wouldn't want to deal with a restless sky bison." Zuko said and shot a small flame into the hearth.

Katara bent some water into a copper teapot and Zuko set it on the hearth.

"Did you really set him free in Ba Sing Se?"

"I did." Zuko hung his head. "I was going to use him as bait to capture Aang. My uncle found out and went off on me. He's usually pretty calm with my mistakes, but everyone has their limits."

Katara got two cups down form the shelves. "Wow. Capturing Aang is really all you thought about. Even now you don't know how to relax."

"I'm from the Fire Nation. We don't relax. If you're not being productive then you're seen as a drain upon society. Making tea is probably the closest I've come to relaxing in my life."

"You should try yoga. I have a feeling you be good at it."

"Really, why is that?"

"You have to be really quiet."

Zuko laughed. "Well I am good at that."

The teapot on the hearth began to whistle.

"I hope you like lychee it's all that there is."

"Lychee is fine."

Zuko got up and began to make the tea.

Katara watched Zuko as he made the tea. He had made tea for her and the rest of the gang several times before, but she never really paid attention. He moved around gracefully as if he were a dancer on stage and not in a kitchen. He was right he did relax while making tea. She studied his hands. His fingers were long and delicate like an artists, but those were the same hands that had burned down Kyoshi Island. Her feelings for him were so conflicted. As much as she wanted to believe that Zuko was a good person there was the fact that he had betrayed her back in Ba Sing Se, but he hadn't been able to fake his dreams. He hadn't been lying when he told her about his mother so why had he opened up his heart to her only to betray her, and why was he opening up to her now? Why did it have to be him out of all people that made her pulse race faster?

"Here you go." Zuko said and set a cup of tea in front of her. "Hope you like it."

"I always do."

Zuko smiled and then reached for the jar of honey the same time she did. Their hands met and once again they locked eyes. Zuko squeezed Katara's hand and she squeezed his back. The air in the room seemed to stand still.

"We're back!" Sokka cried out from the common room.

Zuko and Katara quickly pulled their hands apart, but not quickly enough.

"What did I just interrupt?" Toph questioned loudly. "Is that why Chunhua wanted us out of the house? So that Prince Angry and the Sugar Queen could go on a wittle date?" She made loud kissing sounds as she stepped into the kitchen and then laughed obnoxiously.

"Don't be ridiculous, Toph." Katara scoffed. "This isn't a date. Zuko and I are just having tea."

"Yeah don't be ridiculous." Aang chimed in.

"Yeah my sister might have bad taste in boys, but even her taste isn't that bad. No offense Zuko."

"None taken. Zuko said. "I'm not feeling so great. I'm going to bed."

"Hey Katara you going to drink that tea?" Sokka asked.

Katara stared at Zuko's cup of tea sitting all by itself next to hers.

"No you take it. Suddenly I'm not in the mood for tea anymore."


	7. Dreams can be deceiving like faces are to hearts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are greatly appreciated.

"If you weren't on a date with Zuko last night then what where the two of you doing?" Suki asked.

"I told you we were just having tea."

"In a fancy dress? At night? With everyone gone?"

"I didn't know everyone was going to be gone."

"You can tell me." Suki insisted. "I won't say anything. I didn't last night. Kyoshi warriors' honor."

"All right." Katara said. "It wasn't a date, but it felt like one. I wanted it to be one."

"Oh my spirits! Are you starting to fall for Zuko?"

"I don't know. There's this weird thing between us. I don't know what it is but I keep hoping it will go away, but it won't go away."

Suki smiled. "That's how I felt about your brother. Even when he was making a total ass of himself in front of me I still liked him."

It was a beautiful mid morning day and Katara had asked Suki to fly into town with her for supplies. It gave the two of them a chance to talk without having to worry about the others eavesdropping. It was nice having someone around her age to talk to. She didn't have any friends her age back at the South pole just little kids and Gran-gran. With Suki around she had someone to spill her heart out to and share secrets with. When she voiced her insecurities to Suki she didn't try and make things better. She didn't pretend to understand. She just listened.

"Sokka can be rough around the edges, but he's a good person. Zuko is a monster." Katara pointed out.

"Was a monster. He's changed. Plus you have to admit he's got a nice body, and he's nice to look at."

"A bonfire is nice to look at too, but if you get too close you get burned."

"I know." Suki said. "He once threw a little bonfire that burnt down my village."

"Exactly! Don't forget he almost had you thrown in jail."

"Actually that was Azula. She was the one who attacked us when we found Appa. She's the one who would have thrown us in the Boiling Rock. If your dad hadn't of shown up when he did and help us escape she would have."

"What's the Boiling Rock?"

"A Fire Nation prison."

"Where is it at?"

Suki shrugged. "On some island in the middle of nowhere. While Azula was attacking us she kept saying she was going to throw me in there. Which means it's probably their worst prison."

"Well thank Yue you or my dad didn't get thrown in that prison." Katara said. She pulled on Appa's reins and guided him down for a landing in the middle of a field of sweet grass. "Wait here for us Appa we won't be gone that long."

Appa licked Katara then began grazing on the sweet grass.

"What should we get for dinner tonight?" Suki asked. "The boys are out hunting pheasant-duck for dinner so that means we probably won't need a meat dish."

"Why don't we get some Elephant koi just in case." Katara said. "We've got some extra spending money ."

"If we've got extra money let's go all out and prepare a feast. We deserve it"

"You're right. We do deserve it." Katara said and hooked her arm through Suki's and the two walked over to the fishmonger's stall and inspected the elephant koi stakes. After selecting the best looking stakes they headed over to the vegetable stalls.

"So back to your feelings for Zuko." Suki said.

"There are no feelings for Zuko." Katara said. She picked up a sea radish checked it over and placed it in her basket. "I don't have time for romance."

"You have to make time. Do you think it's easy for me and Sokka?"

Katara followed Suki over to the fruit stalls. "I don't have to make time for Zuko."

"OK, you don't, but if you're not going to be with Zuko just make sure it's for the right reasons."

"There is no right reason for me to be with Zuko. Look I'm done having this conversation. It's pointless."

"All right."

Katara sighed. She doubted very much that Suki was just going to let this drop. She wouldn't tell the others but she could still talk to Katara about it and she would.

After stopping to buy a bushel of apples and moon peaches for Appa and Momo the two loaded up their supplies and flew back to Taku.

As Katara and Suki were flying back to their temporary residence Zuko walked around the grounds with Sokka hunting pheasant-duck for dinner."

"Soo how are you feeling? Sokka asked. "Cus you look good. Good enough to oh I don't know bend some fire. I mean since you're up and walking around. And while your doing your jerkbending maybe you can start teaching Aang so he can kil-kick your father's butt."

Zuko smirked. "It's OK Sokka. I know Aang is going to have to kill my father."

"You're OK with that?"

"I'm OK with saving the world. My dad isn't."

"Yeah he's bent on destroying it."

"Listen, most of my blisters have scabbed over-

"Eww!" Sokka interrupted. "I didn't need to know that."

"I think that means I'm over this fever." Zuko explained.

"Oh, so what do you figure two more days and then you're back to teaching Aang how to flambé your father's face?" He pantomimed bending fire from his fist.

Zuko shook his head. "Tomorrow. I'll start Aang's firebending lessons tomorrow." He liked Sokka but sometimes he would also like to punch Sokka in the face.

"You're really OK with Aang killing your father?"

"Let's just say there's no love lost between us."

Sokka put his hand on Zuko's shoulder. "Well for what it's worth my dad thinks your a good guy."

Zuko wondered what it would be like to have a father like Hakoda. A father who held you when you cried and gave you advice when you needed it. A father that would look at you with pride just for trying. The unconditional love of a father was not something he grew up with. Zuko wasn't entirely sure that his father even knew how to love. He didn't love their mother he had just coveted her. He favored Azula, but he didn't love her either. He just trained her like an animal handing out praise and attention like treats for her good behavior. As long as she did what he wanted she was useful to him

Hakoda was the polar opposite of his father. He was a hero not just to people in the Water Tribe, but around the world. In his travels with his uncle he had heard stories about Chief Hakoda's greatness and his compassion. The only things he heard about his father were tales of his tyranny.

"Suki things you're good too, but then again she thinks you like my sister. So let me just say this if it's true. I think you're a good guy too, just not good for my sister. Not right now."

"Not ever?"

"So you do like her." Sokka noted.

"I do, but it's complicated. I did have a girlfriend. Mai."

"That gloomy girl who sighs a lot?"

"Yeah. Everyone in the Fire Nation thinks I'm a traitor. I couldn't drag her into it."

"Does she think you're a traitor?"

"What! Why do you ask?"

"What I mean is you don't want to be dating someone who is on the same side of the war you're trying to end."

"I never thought about it like that." Zuko said. "She did tell me I was betraying my country." He confessed. "On the night I left the palace to come find Aang I wrote Mai a letter-

"You broke up with your girlfriend in a letter!" Sokka shrieked.

"Keep it down!" Zuko commanded. "I told you I didn't want to drag her into this. She found the letter anyway and confronted me about it. Things got pretty intense. I had to lock her in her room to get away."

"Oh man I thought breaking up with her in a letter was bad, you're lucky Mai doesn't track you down and fill you full of knives."

"I wish I knew where she was."

"Just remember that she's still the enemy."

"Mai's not bad."

"Riiiight. Mai is just hanging out with Azula because she's the third member of their all girl group The Flameos."

Zuko's eyebrow twitched.

"It doesn't matter anyway. Whatever is going on in your love life keep it there and leave my sister out of it. Sokka pulled his space sword from his belt and pointed it in Zuko's face. "I know when we've fought before you've always won, but if you hurt my sister I swear to Yue that Aang's going to need to go into the Avatar state to stop me from killing you."

Zuko didn't say a word. Hakoda's children became very scary when the people they loved were threatened. No wonder the Southern Water tribe had survived as long as they had. Their fierce loyalty to each other was an awesome force to be reckoned with.

"Look, the only thing I want to focus on right now is teaching Aang how to firebend." His sharp golden eyes scanned the land for any signs of a pheasant-duck but he saw nothing. Then a jeweled green color flashed in and out of a bush. A pheasant-duck!

Sokka saw it too. He drew his sword as Zuko took up an offensive bending stance.

"Don't attack! It's me Haru!"

"Haru?"

Zuko and Sokka ran forward and helped Haru scramble out of the bushes.

"What happened to you?" Sokka asked. It was obvious that he'd been in some type of altercation. His lip was bloody. His eyes were blackened and his clothes were torn and dirty.

"Azula." He said. "She's been working on taking out our resistance groups. We're becoming a real thorn in the Fire Nation's side. Our group has been liberating this area. Taking out Fire Nation camps and sabotaging their equipment. I was on a patrol with The Duke and Pipsqueak and a few others, but then Azula and her two friends attacked us and we got split up."

"Come inside and Chunhua will patch you up." Sokka said.

"No! I don't want to draw attention to wherever your staying. It's too risky. Besides not everyone from my group escaped. Some of them got captured by Azula."

"Who? How?" Sokka demanded.

"Rumiko, she's second in command of the Kyoshi warriors, and your father. I'm sorry Sokka, Azula took them both to boiling Rock."

"Are you sure you don't need supplies?" Zuko asked.

"I'm sure. Sorry I can't stay and help you out, but I've got to find the others." Haru said.

"It's Ok." Sokka said. "Go find your friends."

"You don't have to tell me twice." Harua said.

Zuko and Sokka watched him walk away until they couldn't see him anymore.

"This is not OK." Zuko groaned.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"The Boiling Rock is the highest security prison in the Fire Nation. It's on an island in the middle of a boiling lake, and it's inescapable."

"I don't care. My father is there we have to go there."

"How are you going to get there? Zuko asked. "On Appa? Last time I checked prisons don't have bison day cares."

"Look, I have to do this. He's my father and it's my job to rescue him. I couldn't rescue my mom. I have to regain my honor. You can't stop me Zuko."

"You need to regain your honor? Believe me, I get it. I'm going with you. We'll take my war balloon."

"What do we tell the others?" Sokka wanted to know. "It's dangerous enough with us going. We can't let Aang and the others know."

"So we won't tell them. We'll leave them a note. Don't worry I'll write it." Zuko said. "I'm good at that."

Appa had barely gotten his six feet on the ground before Aang, Toph, and Chunhua came to help unload the supplies and put them away.

"Is that elephant koi I smell?" Chunhua asked.

"I wondered what that stench was." Aang said and wrinkled his nose.

Katara rolled her eyes. When was Aang going to get that as someone who grew up in the Southern Water tribe that fish was going to be a main staple of her diet. He acted as if she ate fish and wore furs just to offend him instead of accepting that it was a necessary part of her culture. For an Avatar there where times when he wasn't very understanding of cultures outside of his own.

"Don't worry we got plenty of vegetables for you." Suki reassured Aang.

"I thought we could eat outside on the patio." Katara suggested. "Toph could make a fire pit and Zuko can heat up the coals and we can cook and eat our dinner outside."

"I'm for it." Toph said."But Zuko isn't here. Neither is Sokka."

"Where are they?" Suki wanted to know.

Chunhua handed Katara a note.

"No pheasant-duck in this area. Gone to secret hunting spot. Back in a few days. One more thing. Aang, practice your firebending while I'm gone. Do twenty sets of fire fists and ten hot squats every time you hear a badger frog croak. Zuko

A second later a badger frog croaked.

"Nobody else has homework. Aang whined as he began his exercises. "One hot squat. Two hot squat. Three hot squat. Four hot squat."

"Nobody else is the Avatar." Toph pointed out while she got to work making a fire pit.

Katara seasoned the fish while Suki made some side dishes.

Chunhua clapped her hands. "I know just the leaves to wrap the fish in." She pointed to Aang. "Little airbender come with me. I need someone who can get the leaves from the top of the trees."

"You know, a friend of mine actually designed these war balloons." Sokka said.

"No kidding." Zuko said. He wished that Sokka would shut up. He hated trying to make small talk.

"Yep. A balloon. But for War."

"There's one thing my Dad's good at it's war."

"Yeah, it seems to run in the family."

"Hey, hold on. Not everyone in my family is like that." Zuko said hotly.

"I know, I know, you've changed."

"I meant my Uncle. He was more of a father to me. And I really let him down." Zuko said and bent more fire into the furnace of the war balloon.

"I think your Uncle would be proud of you. Leaving your home to come help us, that's hard."

"It wasn't that hard." Zuko admitted.

Really? You didn't leave behind anyone else you cared about? You don't have another girlfriend that I don't know about?"

"Nope. Just Mai. She was my first, and now probably only girlfriend."

"My first girlfriend turned into the Moon." Sokka said morosely.

"That's rough buddy."

When Chunhua and Aang got back Chunhua began wrapping the fish up in leaves and setting them on the coals while Aang made vegetable shish kabobs.

"Sokka is going to be grumpier than the unagi when it's sea sick when he finds out that he missed out on this feast." Toph said and bent a stone table with matching benches for everyone to sit on.

Katara sat on a bench and formed a water knife to cut the kernels from an ear of arctic tundra corn. Some of her best childhood memories were popping tundra corn on the fire. Their father made it the best. Sokka could never wait for it to cool down before he started shoveling it in his mouth by the fist full. He would burn his fingertips and his mouth every time he ate it rather than wait for it to cool down.

"Especially when he finds out that he missed out on the popped tundra corn."

"I've never had it before." Suki confessed. "Is it really as good as Sokka makes it out to be."

"It's even better." Katara said. "Wait until you taste it."

Sokka and Zuko had finally made it to the Boiling Rock. After a disastrous crash landing of Zuko's war balloon, which Sokka later had to sink so no one would find it, the twosome and actually managed to sneak into the prison and slip into guards uniforms undetected. After a quick check of the prisoners manifest Sokka located his father's prison cell number and went to free him. Zuko stood in the hallway outside of the door as lookout.

"Thank goodness you're okay." Zuko could hear Sokka say through the other side of the cell doors. He couldn't see him but he was willing to bet that Sokka hadn't bothered to take off his guard's helmet before speaking to his father.

Hakoda's next words confirmed Zuko's suspicions.

"If you take one step closer you'll see just how okay I am."

Sokka must have realized his mistake and lifted his visor because his next words were. "Dad, it's me."

"Sokka, my son."

They were probably hugging. Zuko couldn't ever remember his father hugging him.

"You know Sokka, you should be more careful with that guard outfit on. I almost punched you in the gut."

Zuko laughed. He would have liked to see that.

"So where's Bato? Was he one of the people in your group?" Sokka asked his father.

"He was. Him and some of the other Yoshinama fighters are being held at a prison near the Fire Nation palace. They singled me out as their leader and sent me here."

"You mean the Kyoshi Warriors." Sokka corrected.

Zuko smirked. Sokka was a lot like his father.

"That's right."

"Their second in command Rumiko is here and she's gonna escape with us."

"Good Sokka, because there's no prison in the World that can hold two Water Tribe geniuses.

"Then we'd better find two." Sokka said.

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. They were going to rot in prison.

"'Scuse me, I need to get into that cell." A female guard announced.

Zuko started. He'd been so busy listening to Hakoda and Sokka's conversation that he hadn't even seen the guard walk up next to him. "No, you can't go in there!" Zuko shouted suddenly. He wracked his brain for a plausible excuse. "The lights are out the prisoner could sneak up on you." Oh real smooth. He told himself.

"Step aside, fool." The female guard said trying to push past Zuko.

Well there was nothing for it. Zuko grabbed the guards arm and pushed her into the wall. Damn Sokka and his fly by the seat of his pants plans.

"Hey! Hey! What are you doing?"

Hopefully buying enough time for Sokka to escape. Zuko thought. If he got caught they could kiss their freedom goodbye. A few heart stopping moments later Sokka slipped out of his father's cell and began to walk down the hallway as inconspicuously as possible.

"Guard help! I think he's an imposter!" The eagle eyed prison guard cried out to Sokka. "Argh! Arrest him! Get him off me and arrest him!"

Having no other choice Sokka turned around and assisted the female guard. "You're under arrest!" Sokka barked convincingly and help to subdue Zuko by pinning him up against the wall. "Don't worry, I'll figure it out." He whispered in his ear before dragging him off to meet his fate.

It didn't take long to learn of his fate. He was taken to a small room with just him and the prison warden. This did not bode well for their escape plan.

"Well, well, well. I never thought I'd find you in here, Prince Zuko."

"How did you know who I am?"

"How could I not? You broke my niece's heart."

"You're Mai's uncle? I never meant to hurt her."

"Quiet! You're my special prisoner now. And you best behave. If these criminals found out who you are, the traitor prince who let his nation down. Why, they'd tear you to shreds." The warden said his voice dripping with vicious pleasure.

"So what's in it for you? Why don't you just tell my father and collect the reward?"

"Oh in due time believe me, I intend to collect." The warden said. His velvet voice rubbing his power over Zuko in his face.

He didn't know what Sokka's plan was, but whatever it was he hoped he came up with it soon.

Unbeknownst to Zuko Sokka was coming up with a plan to execute soon. He met up with his father in general population to discuss it with Rumiko. The threesome found a quiet and secluded place behind the stairs.

"So listen, My dad and I came up with a plan together. We're gonna commandeer the gondola and we're gonna take a hostage with us so they won't cut the lines."

"We'll never make it onto the gondola. There's too many guards." Rumiko said.

"I already thought of that. Hakoda said. "We'll need a distraction."

"What kind of distraction?"

"Yeah." A voice above them called out.

Sokka, Hakoda, and Rumiko looked up simultaneously at June, who'd been sitting on the stairs, eavesdropping on their conversation. She looked like a totally different person without her black leather and her shirshu, yet she didn't look out of place in a prison uniform.

"What kind of big distraction are you going to cause in order to get out of here?" She asked.

"We didn't. We... We didn't say that." Sokka stammered.

"Yeah, you heard wrong." Rumiko agreed.

"I heard you hatching an escape plan and I want in." June insisted.

"There's nothing to get in on." Hakoda said.

"Yeah, the only thing we're hatching is... an egg?" Sokka said feebly

"OK, well, I come with you or the Warden hears about this egg too." June threatened.

"What are you in here for anyway?" Sokka asked. "Forget to curb your shirshu when you were on Fire Nation grounds?"

"No I refused to track down the Avatar for that flaming bitch Azula. So you owe me."

"I guess we have no choice." Rumiko said with a sigh.

"Zuko isn't going to like this." Sokka said.

"Angry boy is here?" June asked with a laugh. "This ought to be good."

"Oh sure this is real good." Sokka snarled and grumbled all the way down the hallway to Zuko's cell.

"Zuko, are you there?"

Zuko quickly ran to his cell door and looked out through the small window. "I'm here."

"I just got done talking to my Dad. We came up with an escape plan together."

"What are you doing here?" A disembodied voice shouted from outside of Zuko's cell door. He watched panic flash across Sokka's face before he turned to answer the guard the voice belonged to.

"I was just telling this dirty lowlife what I think of him!"

"Well, you'll have to do that later, he's coming with us."

"Why?" Sokka asked.

"Because we have orders straight from the Warden. That's why." A female guard spat.

"Could I just get ten more seconds to rough him up a bit?"

"Fine, the female guard said, ten seconds."

In the next moment Sokka had slipped himself back into Zuko's cell. He held up his mattress for Sokka to punch and Zuko grunted in fake pain.

"We have a new plan." Sokka said in between fake punches. "Be in the yard after dinner."

Ten seconds later the doors to Zuko's cell opened. He dropped his mattress and Sokka pounced on him and tried to put him in a head lock.

"All right, that's enough." The male guard groused. He grabbed Zuko roughly by the upper arm and hauled him out of his cell.

"What are you doing? Where are you taking me?" Zuko demanded as the two guards dragged him down the hall.

"I didn't do anything wrong." He shouted.

The two guards didn't care if he was innocent or not. They stopped before a holding cell, opened the door, and shoved him into the room as hard as they could. He crashed landed into a wooden chair.

"Come on Zuko. We all know that's a lie."

"Mai." She was the last person that Zuko ever expected to see at a Fire Nation prison. "How did you know I was here?"

"Because I know you so well."

"But how?"

"The Warden's my Uncle you idiot."

Zuko slapped the palm of his hand to his forehead. Of course he should have know. Idiot!

"The truth is, I guess I don't know you. All I get is a letter."

The letter. She brought the letter all the way to the prison with her.

"You could have at least looked me in the eye when you ripped out my heart."

"I didn't mean to-"

"You didn't mean to? Mai interrupted. She unrolled his letter and began to read it out loud. "Dear Mai, I'm sorry that you have to find out this way, but I'm leaving."

"Stop!" Zuko shouted at her. He didn't want to hear another one of his past sins."This isn't about you. This is about the Fire Nation."

"Thanks Zuko. That makes me feel all better." Mai sneered and tossed the crumpled up letter at his head.

"Mai, I never wanted to hurt you. But I have to do this to save my country."

"Oh, You're still under the impression that you're saving the Fire Nation. I told you before you're not saving it. You're betraying your country."

"That's not how I see it."

The two glared at each other.

Sokka's words replayed in his head. _"What I mean is you don't want to be dating someone who is on the same side of the war you're trying to end."_

"All right that's enough." The male prison guard called from outside of the door. "Back in your cell until dinner time. This reunion is over."

"Thanks be to the spirits." Mai said.

Zuko allowed the guards to escort him to his cell. As the male guard shoved Zuko back into his cell the female guard stuck her foot out and tripped him. Zuko was unprepared and without his hands to break his fall he hit the ground hard. A blister that hadn't healed burst somewhere on his body and pain like a white hot burning star consumed him.

Five minutes later Sokka was knocking on Zuko's door to release him for dinner. When he didn't appear in the window after he had repeatedly called his name Sokka opened the cell door and slipped inside.

"Zuko!" Sokka shouted. Zuko was lying on the floor covered in sweat and writhing in pain like he had when he'd first come down with the Spirit Fever.

The walls of the prison fell away and as Zuko opened his eyes the intense pain began to vanish. He was now outside. He stood up feeling completely disoriented but still took the time to scan his surroundings. As far as he could tell he was still in the Earth Kingdom. The area was hilly enough to be in the Earth Kingdom. The lush green land spread out before him as far as he could see.

"I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I didn't know about your father." A voice said seemingly out of nowhere.

Zuko didn't need to see the speaker to know who the voice belonged to. Katara. Was this one of her dreams? Had he somehow become trapped in one of her darkest memories?

"That's OK. It's funny, the way you were talking back in the store, it reminded me of him." A young earthbender he now knew to be Haru said.

"Thanks."

"My father was very courageous. When the Fire Nation invaded, he and the other earthbenders were outnumbered ten to one, but they fought back anyway."

So many people loved their fathers. How different his life might of been if he could have just done the same. Zuko thought

"He sounds like a great man." Katara said.

"After the attack, they rounded up my father every other earthbender and took them away. We haven't seen them since."

How many of Katara's darkest memories were the direct result of something the Fire Nation had done? How many of Haru's?

"So, that's why you hide your earthbending?"

"Yes. The problem is that the only way I can feel close to my father now is when I practice my bending. He taught me everything I know."

"See this necklace?" Katara asked "My mother gave it to me."

"It's beautiful." Haru told her.

This was Katara's memory, but how? Had the fever brought him here?

"I lost my mother in a Fire Nation raid. This necklace is all I have left of her." Katara told Haru.

"It's not enough, is it?" He asked.

"No."

Half way across the land Katara stood up abruptly. "I don't feel well." She said.

"Katara! Katara!" Suki screamed as she watched her friend fall to the ground.

Katara felt as if she were falling in slow motion. The bowl of tundra corn kernels that was in her lap hit the floor faster than she did. With a clatter the bowl spun wildly several times on it's side before landing upside down. The kernels cascaded across the patio. She could hear shoes crunching the kernels into the floor as everyone scurried around her.

"Katara nooo!" She heard Toph yell. The sound of genuine fear in Toph's voice put fear in her.

"Quick get Chunhua!" Suki ordered. "Tell her Katara is burning up!"

The white hot pain came back again causing Zuko to blackout. When he came to he pushed himself up on to his feet and slowly checked out his surroundings. This time he was on the old coal rig that had imprisoned hundreds of earthbenders in the name of the Fire Nation. He was still stuck inside of Katara's darkest memories.

"Come with us." Haru pleaded with Katara.

"I can't." She said."Your mission is to take back your home. Ours is to get Aang to the North Pole."

"That's him, isn't it? Haru asked. He had spotted Aang and App in the distance. Aang was absentmindedly airbending a little piece of coal around and around. "The Avatar. Katara, thank you for bringing my father back to me. I never thought I'd see him again. I only wish there was some way." Haru trailed off knowing there was no way he could bring Katara's mother back to her.

"I know Katara said and reached down to touch her necklace but gasp when she only touched skin. "My mother's necklace! It's gone!"

The memory changed abruptly from Katara's to one of his own. He was standing on the deck of the same coal rig that Katara and Haru had been on. He was dressed in his Fire Nation uniform and scowling so deeply he almost didn't recognize himself. Zuko watched as his dream self bent down to pick up something off the deck floor. He clutched the object proudly in his hands. Katara's mother's necklace. The one he used to hunt down Aang. At one time in his life this had been one of his proudest moments. Now it was one of his darkest memories.

"What's wrong with him?" Rumiko asked as she bent down beside Zuko and took his pulse.

Sokka had snuck the others into Zuko's cell. Now that he was sick they were going to have to fight their way out if they couldn't sneak him out.

"I think one of his blisters got infected. We need to get him back to my sister as quickly as possible." Sokka explained.

June looked outside Zuko's cell window. "That might be a problem."

"We just have to stick to the plan. All we need is some kind of distraction." Sokka said.

"The only thing that would distract people in this place is a prison riot." Rumiko said dryly.

"That's it!" Sokka shouted. "We'll cause a riot it's the perfect distraction."

"Okay. Let's say by some miracle this all works and we make it on the gondola. The Warden will still just cut the lines, even if we have a captive." Rumiko pointed out.

"Not if the Warden is the captive." Sokka said triumphantly. "I have to go it's almost lunch time. After lunch they'll let you all out into the courtyard. That's when we'll start the riot. Sokka said. He looked through the cell door window and when the coast was clear he opened the door a crack. "You wouldn't happen to know how to start one would you?" He asked as he paused in the door way.

June perked up. "A prison riot?" She stood up and shoved Sokka out of the door and then slipped out behind him. "Please, leave it to me."

Katara felt like she was being pulled down, down, down by a current. She was a rock sinking in a slow hot pulsing current. She tried to stand up but couldn't. The room felt as if it were spinning in one direction, and she felt as if she were spinning in another. She closed her eyes but the opposite spinning sensation continued.

Katara opened her eyes when the spinning finally stopped. Looking around she saw that she was no longer in Taku. She was in a room. A bedroom. A red bedroom. The walls were red. The rug on the floor was red. The curtains on the huge wooden canopy bed was red and so where the sheets. The pajamas of the little boy sitting in the bed were red too. It only took a second for Katara to recognize the little boy as Zuko.

This was his room in the palace which meant she was some how in Zuko's darkest memories. She saw a young Azula leaned up against Zuko's doorway. Even as a small child she held the posture of a poised and accomplished adult.

"Dad's going to kill you." She said in a sing song voice. She paused for a beat then said in her usual deadpan voice. "Really, he is."

Never in her life had Katara seen a child with such a predatory nature. She watched the scene play out before her the way one watches a tragic event unfold before them.

Zuko sat up in his bed. "Ha-ha, Azula. Nice try." He said back to his sister.

"Fine, don't believe me, but I heard everything." Azula drawled. "Grandfather said dad's punishment should fit his crime." She changed her voice to try and match the depth and tone of her grandfather's. "You must know the pain of losing a first born son, by sacrificing your own!" She spun around childlike on one of his bedpost. It was all a game to Azula. She was rejoicing in her brother's emotional meltdown.

"Liar!" Zuko cried out, but it was clear that he was becoming agitated. His sisters words had put him into a panicked tailspin.

Katara couldn't believe what she was seeing. Couldn't believe what she was hearing. What kind of cold and twisted family did Zuko come from? The way Azula talked so casually about her father killing her brother sent a chill down her spine. Azula acted as if her father were discussing a boar-q-pine that was sick and needed to be put down, and not her own brother. Did any member of the royal family have feelings? Did they even love themselves because it was clear they didn't love one another.

"I'm only telling you for your own good." Azula sat on the edge of her brother's bed, and said with false cheerfulness. "I know, maybe you could find a nice Earth Kingdom family to adopt you."

"Stop it, you're lying! Dad would never do that to me." Zuko clutched his blanket as tears rolled down his cheek. Zuko was afraid. He was afraid that what his sister said might be true. Somewhere in his young heart he truly believed that his father would have him killed.

Katara believed it too. She itched to slap the face of young Azula. What in the name of Tui and La was wrong with her? How could she enjoy tormenting her brother about something so awful. What kind of sick person ordered a parent to murder their own child as a punishment? What kind of parent agreed to do it?

It was too much. These were Zuko's darkest memories and not hers. She wasn't going to be trapped in his darkness. Using every fiber of her consciousness Katara pulled herself up out of the darkness. It felt like surfacing from the water after diving down deep. That first breath was like being reborn. She gasp loudly drawing in as much air in her lungs as she possibly could.

"Katara!"

Katara sat up slowly.

"For Yue's sake are you all right?" Suki asked. Her eyes seemed to have tripled in size.

"I'm fine." She said. She bent some water into her mouth and swallowed.

"What happened?" Chunhua asked.

"Zuko's in trouble."

"How do you know?" Toph asked.

"The dream or whatever it is I had. I saw My dad, Sokka, and Zuko in it. The three of them are at Boiling Rock."

"What!" Toph screamed.

"No!" Suki gasped. "What are we going to do?"

"We're going to the Boiling Rock." Katara said as she rose unsteadily to her feet. "And we're bringing them home!"


	8. Volcano Girls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are greatly appreciated.

Zuko sat up like he'd been shot out of a canon. He took a long deep breath of air. He was back at Boiling Rock. He pushed his damp hair out of his eyes and scrambled to his feet. How long had he been down this time? Not long enough, he hoped, to have ruin their escape plan. There was no way for him to tell what time of day it was from his prison cell.

The door to his prison cell opened and Sokka stepped through. "Good. You didn't die." He said.

"Thanks for your concern."

"You're welcome. Dinner is almost over quick get your food and then go sit with my dad."

"Do you really think this plan is going to work?" Zuko asked.

"It has to. Once June starts the riot there's no turning back."

"Wait, June is here and she's starting a prison riot?"

"Long story. Just go find my dad." Sokka demanded.

Zuko walked to the dining hall and got in line for his dinner of flavorless over cooked jook, rotten vegetables, and moldy bread. He didn't even bother with the water. Everything but the unagi was floating in that water. He picked up his tray and kept his head down until he sat across from Hakoda.

Hakoda nodded at him so slightly that if Zuko hadn't been looking directly at him he would have never known he nodded. The two said nothing they just began to eat their dinner. He didn't want to leave without talking to Mai again, but he couldn't risk going back to see her, and she'd probably left to go join his sister's crusade anyway. Sokka thought Mai was bad, but at one time he himself had been bad. It took getting away from the Fire Nation and his father to make him see things for what they really where. No matter what his relationship was with Mai, he still cared about her and still hope that she'd see things clearly too.

Not long after Zuko had choked down the last of his jook the guards were sending everyone out into the courtyard.

Zuko quickly found Hakoda and Sokka.

"Where's Rumiko and June?" Zuko asked.

"I'm right here." June said. "Did you ever get back together with your girlfriend, that Water Tribe girl?"

Hakoda stared at Zuko hard.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Zuko snapped.

June rolled her eyes. "Whatever, time to get this riot started." She walked casually over to a prison guard who was arguing with an inmate and tapped him on the shoulder. When he turned around she picked him up over her head and hoisted him up and down.

"HEY!"She shouted at the top of her lungs. "RIOT!" She threw the prison guard into a group of people in front of her, and turned to kick a female prison guard in the jaw.

The reaction of the other prisoners was instantaneous. A barrage of flames shot into the air as everyone started bending. Fights broke out between prisoner and prisoner and prisoner and prison guard.

Rumiko fought her way towards them. She punched two prisoners in the face before reaching them.

"Good. We're all here. Now all we need to do is grab the Warden and get to the gondolas." Sokka said.

"Katara slow down." Aang said. "You can't go to the Boiling Rock."

"My father and my brother are there. I'm going!" Katara said. She brushed past Aang and marched into her room in the dormitory.

"Do you even have a plan?" Aang wanted to know.

"No." Katara said as she began stuffing supplies into one of her bags.

"I'm going too." Suki said and began packing a bag of her own.

"Katara stop!" Aang said stepping in front of her. "It's not good to go off angry like this."

"I'm not angry. I'm scared!" Katara confessed. "Anything could be happening to them at that prison."

"How are you going to get there?" Toph asked. "Appa can't fly over a boiling lake. I'm not against your going I just wondered how you're going to get there."

"Before the war Taku was the center of commerce and distributed cargo imported from ships throughout the entire nation." Chunhua said. "There's a shipyard down in the city. Some older ships are still docked there. I don't know if they're sea worthy but it's worth a try."

"Having a ship doesn't matter. Aang said. "You don't even know where the prison is."

"Its located on a volcano between here and the Fire Nation. We actually flew right past it on our way here." Katara said.

"Did your dream tell you that?" Aang asked sarcastically.

"Yes. Yes it did." Katara huffed back.

"Stop! We don't have time to fight. We need to see what condition the ships are in." Suki said.

"You're right, let's go." Katara said. "We're just wasting time here." She fastened the straps on her backpack and followed Suki out of the dormitory.

"Wait!" Aang cried as he followed them out the front door. "I'll fly you two into the city on Appa."

"It's a shame what happened to Taku." Suki said as Appa landed in the middle of the abandon city.

Katara looked around at the damage that she'd only seen by night. It looked so much more desolate and abandoned by daylight. How many families had been forced to pack up and leave their homes never to look back on what they knew to be familiar and comfortable. How many people had died defending this place? She couldn't understand why the Fire Nation needed to destroy every land they came to. It had been over one hundred years of senseless violence when was it going to end?

"One day it will be rebuilt." Aang said. "When this war is over we can start healing and then start rebuilding."

Katara smiled. "You're right. We'll put this right again. We can't make it what it was, but we can turn it into something just as good."

"We should get going." Suki said. "We're losing daylight."

"I still don't like this Katara." Aang said as he followed her to the docks of the shipyard.

"What other choice do we have?" She wanted to know. "There's no way you can go to a Fire Nation Prison Aang it's too dangerous."

"OK go, but Katara please be careful." Aang said.

Katara hugged Aang. "I will I promise."

Aang got back onto Appa. He turned to give them one last sullen look before calling out. "Yip, yip!" Appa didn't hesitate. He rose swiftly into the air and flew off.

"We'll be back as soon as we can!" Suki shouted.

The two walked down a slopping path towards the shipyard. The path was overgrown with weeds that Katara had to use a water whip to cut down. There were still plenty of ships docked in the shipyard. Katara inspected them, but she didn't know much about ships beyond those in the Southern Water Tribe.

"Do you think any of them will work?" Katara asked.

"Only one way to find out." Suki said and ran down the path to the dock.

Katara ran after her her shoes slapped on the dirt path and the contents of her backpack jiggled and jangled. At this rate she was going to ware herself out before she even got to the prison.

"Blessed be Avatar Kyoshi!" Suki cried. "It's a Fire Nation airship."

"Does it work?" Katara asked.

"We're about to see."

The two stepped on to the airship. Katara began to look for booby traps remembering the one she and Aang had set off in the ship back at the South Pole.

Suki inspected the control panel."You've got to give it to the Fire Nation." She said. "They make some damn fine machinery."

"You mean it works?"

Suki studied the dashboard intently before she began to push buttons. The needles on the gauges twitched to life. Suki pulled on some levers on the dashboard panel and the airship began to rise.

"It works." Suki said taking the helm of the ship. "Now we just have to figure a way inside of Boiling Rock."

"I know a way." Katara said holding up some Fire Nation military armor she'd found hanging on the wall of the ship. "You're going to bring me in as your prisoner."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. You know it will work. The Fire Nation wants me so badly they won't question who brings me in."

"If you're sure."

"I am." Katara said. "My dad, Sokka and Zuko are depending on us."

"Steer while I change." Suki commanded.

Katara skittishly took the helm.

"I can't believe Sokka would take off to a Fire Nation prison with out telling me." Suki ranted. "I'm going to kill him when I see him."

"Zuko didn't tell us either." Katara pointed out.

"I can see why Zuko didn't tell us, especially you, but Sokka has no excuse." Suki said pulling the last piece of Fire Nation armor in place.

"Why especially me?"

"Especially you because Zuko doesn't like the rest of us the same way he likes you."

"Not this again." Katara said and stepped away from the helm so that Suki could take over.

"It's just sometimes you still seem so angry at him and I don't know why."

"Do you have a scroll so I can make a list?"

"He hurt us all Katara, but now he's helping to end this war. Sometimes you make things more tense with Zuko than they have to be."

"You wouldn't understand." Katara said and blew air through her hair.

Suki didn't say anything else. She knew when to let a subject drop. As the pair got closer to the prison Suki locked Katara up in a pair of cuff she'd found on her armor.

"This is it." Katara said.

As the volcano grew closer and closer Katara could start to make out more of the prison. It was a pentagonal structure on a huge rock surrounded by a boiling lake. Hence the name.

"I could work up a lot of cover if we need it." Katara offered.

Suki shook her head and brought the airship down for a landing into the docking bay.

Katara's heart began to beat wildly in her chest. So much could go wrong right now. If they found out that Suki wasn't really Fire Nation they would both be imprisoned. The door to the airship groaned opened and two prison guards marched out from the gondola control tower to meet their ship.

"OUT!" Suki snapped at Katara.

Suki's sudden out burst made Katara jump out of her skin, but she realized that she was trying to make things seem authentic, mission accomplished.

"What's going on?" One of the guards asked. "We weren't expecting anymore prisoners today."

"This isn't just any prisoner. She's the Avatar's best friend." Suki said.

"I know her, Leiko." One of the guards said. "She's the one that destroyed the drill back in Ba Sing Se."

"Oh, she's mighty Katara of the Water Tribe." The female prison guard named Leiko sneered. "She doesn't look mighty to me."

"Why don't you uncuff my hands and I'll show you my might." Katara shot back.

"Just like her dad, this one." Leiko said. "More mouth than common sense. Let's get her inside. The warden is going to love having a matching set." She grabbed Katara's upper arm and dragged her on the gondola.

"What's your name?" The male prison guard asked Suki who had just stepped into the gondola beside Katara.

"Colonel Sapphire Fire."

Katara started to laugh but managed to turn it into a convincing snort.

"Sapphire Fire?" Leiko mused. "Where have I heard that name before?"

"Er, it's a pretty common name." Suki said.

The gondola doors closed and Katara's heart skipped a beat. Of all the names Suki could have thought of why that one? She was going to drown Sokka for telling Suki that story.

"Did you go to the Royal Fire Academy for girls?" Leiko asked.

"The warden is coming to meet us, Takeo warned as the gondola began docking, look alive!" A few seconds later the doors slid open.

"Get off the gondola sea slug!" Leiko yelled at Katara and shoved her.

Suki and Takeo stepped out behind her.

The prison warden walked down the long catwalk to meet Katara. Slowly he looked her up and down before speaking.

"Welcome to The Boiling Rock. The prison warden said in a poisonous purring voice. "I'm sure you've heard the horrible rumors about our little island. Well I just want to tell you that they don't have to be true. As long as you do everything I say."

Katara glared at the warden.

"Strong willed just like your father. But don't worry, we'll get rid of that in time." The warden motioned to the two guards and Suki. "Take her inside and get her booked."

After being booked, fingerprinted, and given her prison uniform Katara was dragged into the prison. Suki was allowed to stay for the whole booking process and escort her to the prison without question.

She couldn't believe her plan worked. Well part one of her plan. She didn't know how she was going to get out of prison once they put her in, but she'd been imprisoned twice before and got out each time.

"Your on the third floor cell number 84." Takeo said.

"First let's see if there's still dinner left. Mighty Katara looks like she needs to be fed." Leiko pointed out as she held up one of Katara's arms.

Katara gritted her teeth but didn't say anything. She just followed along.

"Mind if I tag along? I'm kind of hungry." Suki said.

"If you want to eat the food here you must be." Takeo said.

There was no one in the dining hall.

"Oh no, looks like you missed dinner snow savage." Leiko crowed. "Oh well, maybe if you're really nice to the other inmates in the yard they'll let you lick the crumbs off their shoes."

Katara bit down on her lip until she drew blood. "I have to control my temper. I have to control my temper." She chanted to herself. She didn't resist as she was dragged out into the courtyard. She craned her neck in search of her father, brother, or Zuko. Her dream couldn't have been wrong. Before she woke up from her dream she'd seen their faces plain as of they'd been standing next to her. Then she spotted her father.

"Dad!" She cried but he was too far away to hear her. She started to run to him. She didn't care about being at Boiling Rock. She just wanted to see her father. She wanted to hug him and hear his voice again.

"Stop!" Takeo shouted at Katara. He stood in front of her with his arms out stretched blocking her path.

"Why are you stopping me?" Katara demanded. "I haven't done anything wrong."

"You go when I say go and I didn't say you could go."

Katara balled her fist up. Holding back the urge to waterbend was making the vein in her neck throb.

"What are you going to do you little waterbug bend at me?" Takeo sneered. The sneer was soon wiped off his face when he was lifted bodily from the ground.

If Katara had not seen it with her own eyes she wouldn't have believed it. June. What was she doing in a Fire Nation prison? This day just couldn't get any more bizarre she thought.

"RIOT!" June yelled and threw Takeo over her head.

Katara ducked just in time as Takeo flew over her.

"Guards!" The Warden screamed. "Secure the perimeter Now! This is a lockdown!"

With a riot breaking out all around her Suki gave up all pretenses of being Fire Nation and began pulling off her armor.

"Let's go!" Suki said. She started taking out guards and prisoners alike.

Katara stood beside her and started water bending at anyone who got too close. Together they cleared a path through the violence unfolding around them and made it to her father and the others.

"Katara!" Zuko shouted. " How did-how are-are you really here?" He wasn't sure if he was dreaming or hallucinating.

"Yes I'm really here, and so is-

"Suki!" Sokka cried out and tore off his helmet. "What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Coming to rescue you." She told him.

"Good because we need it." Zuko said.

"Yeah, we're trying to take the Warden hostage." Hakoda said. He pointed to the third floor lookout where the warden was now standing.

Without a word to anyone Suki took off.

Zuko lost her in the crowd for a moment then saw her reappear running on the tops of prisoners' heads as if she was running across the floor. Without pause she scaled a wall flipped off it. Her feet caught a railing underneath of her and she flipped herself up off of the railing to the second floor of the prison.

"She's gonna need back up!" Sokka shouted. "Let's go."

Zuko looked back at the prison tower. Suki was still up there. She took out two of the three prison guards who'd come to stop her and dodged a fire blast from the third. She used the railing to propel herself to the wall and quickly scaled up to the third floor.

Zuko panted as they ran up to the prison tower after Suki. He couldn't be stealthy the way that she was and had to fight his way through the crowds.

"Zuko behind you!" Katara cried out and shot a jet of water just over his shoulder. It hit a prison guard square in his chest and lifted him off his feet.

"Thanks, Katara." The two took off running after the warden again with Hakoda, June, and Rumiko behind them. Sokka was ahead of all of them determined to get to Suki first.

Suki had made it up to the third floor. The warden was still up there and another prison guard tried to stop Suki from reaching him, but she slid across the floor and took his legs out from underneath him. She continued to slide until she stopped right in front of the prison warden. She quickly rose to her feet and grabbed his wrist with one hand. Her other hand drew back in a fist. Zuko couldn't believe she was going to punch the warden in the face.

Neither did the warden. "You wouldn't dare." He said.

Zuko was sure that she dared, but Suki didn't punch him. Instead she pulled his wrist downward and quickly tied his hands behind his back. "Sorry warden you're my prisoner now." She said and took his headband pulled it down to his mouth, turned it around, and gagged him with it.

Zuko didn't know how she did it. Everyone else who had just reached the third floor was panting and gasping like it was their last breath.

"We've got the warden! Now let's get out of here!" Suki ordered.

"That's some girl" Hakoda marveled.

"Tell me about it." Sokka said sounding proud enough to burst.

"Why do you think she's our leader." Rumiko said.

Hakoda hefted the warden over his shoulder ensuring that he couldn't escape and the group raced up stairs towards the gondola control tower.

"We're almost there." Suki, who was leading the pack, said to Sokka who was running beside her.

Two prison guards had been stationed to block them from getting on to the gondola. They firebent at the group in unison. Zuko pushed Sokka out of harm's way and dispersed their flames.

"Back off, we've got the Warden." He warned. He stepped to the side so that they could see that Hakoda had their warden.

"Let's go." Zuko directed the group.

They ran single file to the gondola.

"Everyone in." Suki said.

All of the group filed in the gondola but Zuko stayed behind. Even when the gondola began to move he stayed behind. He couldn't leave the lever that controlled the wench operational. If he broke it now the guards wouldn't be able to stop them later. He gave the lever a few hard kicks, and when it finally broke he took a running leap for the gondola.

Sokka held out his hand for Zuko and he managed to catch him. Sokka strained but was able to help Zuko up into the gondola.

"What are you doing? " Sokka asked.

"I'm making it so they can't stop us. " He explained.

"Way to think ahead." Sokka said impressed.

"We're on our way." Suki announced.

"I'm glad it's all over with." Rumiko said.

"Wait. Who's that?" Hakoda asked.

Zuko followed Hakoda's line of sight. "That's a problem. It's my sister and her friend."

"You know that this is all your fault,right?" June asked Rumiko.

So Azula had found them. It was no surprise to Zuko. If Mai could find him of course Azula would have no trouble finding him. Not one to wait for the battle to come to her, his sister grabbed a pair of handcuffs off of the prison guard next to her and attached them to the over head cables of the gondola. Using her deadly blue flame Azula propelled herself along the cable lines while Tylee, who had back flipped herself atop the next cable, ran beside his sister.

"This is a rematch I've been waiting for." Suki said.

"Me too." Zuko agreed.

"I'm going up there for backup." Sokka said. "The rest of you cover the windows and make sure the warden doesn't escape."

Zuko pulled himself out of the gondola's open window and climbed on to the roof. He took up an offensive firebending stance and waited for the ensuing attack. Three against two. He like their odds.

His sister must have liked her odds too because she and Tylee were still coming towards them full tilt. The fight was on.

Azula landed on the gondola's roof, aligned herself in a perfect bending stance, and then bent low and sent a circle of blue flames at his feet.

Zuko was ready for his sister and broke her blue flames with his own orange flames.

Sokka stood behind him his sword out and at the ready.

Azula bent another ball of blue flame at Zuko. This one was aimed at his face. He broke her flame once again. Sokka took advantage of the pause in their flame volley and stepped in front of Zuko swung his sword at her head.

Azula ducked Sokka's sword and shot of another ball of blue flame.

Again Zuko was able to break his sister's flame and fired back with one of his own. This fight wasn't going to end in a draw. Both of them were too determined not to lose to the other. Zuko was fighting for his life and Azula was fighting to end it.

"Cut the line!" The warden yelled suddenly from inside of the gondola.

Zuko looked back to the control tower the guards were already acting on the warden's orders. A huge piece of metal had been brought out and the two guards jammed that piece of metal into the wench's housing. The gondola swung like a pendulum as it ground to a halt . Zuko struggled to keep his footing but was able to remain upright.

Sokka was less fortunate. He started to careen off the edge of the gondola. Zuko grabbed for his hand. Sokka had managed not to fall over the edge and into the lake by sticking his booted foot in the gondola's peaked roof. Zuko pulled Sokka all the way up on the top of the roof.

Back at the control tower the guards were cutting the lines with two enormous saws.

Zuko jumped inside of the gondola. "They're cutting the line. The gondola's about to go!" He shouted.

"I hope this thing floats." Hakoda remarked.

Zuko did too. He knew that no one lived forever but he didn't want to meet his end by boiling to death.

"I don't think I can freeze an entire boiling lake by myself, but I can form an ice barrier around the gondola." Katara offered up. "I don't know how much a difference that would make."

"All that would do is buy us a little more time before we're cooked alive." June said.

"Or buy us enough time to think of something else." Zuko countered.

"What are you doing?!" A guard shouted from the control tower below.

The guards who had been cutting at the lines were pinned suddenly to the wall behind them.

"Saving the jerk who dumped me." Mai said. She began throwing her stiletto blades with pinpoint accuracy incapacitating the prison guards who had began to swarm her. After taking out the final guard Mai kicked away the huge piece of metal from the wench's housing and the gondola began moving again.

"Who is that?" Sokka asked as he ran to the front facing window of the gondola to get a better view of the action.

"It's Mai." Zuko said coming to stand by Sokka's side. The others crowded in behind them. He stared at her as the gondola pulled away from the prison. She had just saved his life. All of their lives. Even if she wasn't intending on saving the others she still had. He chose to take it as a sign that Mai wasn't beyond seeing what was right.

The gondola finally reached the other side of the volcano. When it docked the others quickly ran out.

"Well, we made it out. Now what?" Rumiko asked.

"Now we fly the hell out of here." Suki said and pointed to a Fire Nation Airship

"What are you doing with an airship?" Zuko asked.

"Leave now. Ask later." Sokka said and ran for the airship.

Everyone boarded the airship. Suki took the helm and flew them away from Boiling Rock.

Katara began to breathe a little easier but she wouldn't feel completely at rest until they were back on the ground.

"Do you think any of them will follow us?" Rumiko asked.

"I don't know, but I'm going to fly higher up just in case. The clouds will provide us with cover and if someone comes after us Katara can provide us with even more." Suki said. The airship lifted up higher and higher into the air until the mountain ranges started to look like ant hills.

"I can't believe Mai saved us. She has to know Azula will throw her in jail along with her uncle." Zuko said.

"Good. Sokka said. I know she's your girlfriend and all, but I can't feel sorry for her."

Katara looked at Zuko. Mai was his girlfriend? How convenient for that fact to never have come up. Didn't matter anyway. It wasn't like she and Zuko were dating.

"She's my ex-girlfriend." Zuko said looking directly at Katara and then turned to Sokka. "She just saved your life."

So Mai wasn't Zuko's girlfriend after all. Not that it mattered.

Suki gasped. "Oh no!"

"What's happening?" Katara asked.

The airship plummeted several feet.

"One of the propellers has stopped!" The airship plummeted again. "We just lost the starboard propeller." Suki cried. "Everybody grab on to something!"

Katara wrapped her whole body around a metal pipe attached to the wall of the airship.

"What are we going to do?" Rumiko wanted to know.

"What's that smell?" June asked.

Katara wrinkled her nose she smelled it too.

"It's skunk fish." Sokka said. "This ship must be booby trapped with one of Jian-min's rhino seal tangle mines."

"Whose Jian-min?" Zuko wanted to know.

"Teo's dad." Sokka explained. "The friend of mines who built your war balloon. He also modified my dad's tangle mine, only his are for airships and are made out of rhino seal hide."

"What's that got to do with anything?" June snapped.

"Rhino seal hide is impervious to pretty much everything but very high altitudes. Sokka explained. "So when Suki took us higher the rhinoseal hide evaporated and detonated the mines.

"Haru must have done this!" Zuko exclaimed. "Remember when we ran into him back in Taku? Zuko asked Sokka. "He told us he'd been sabotaging the Fire Nation."

"Haru did this?" Katara asked.

"Well it's not like he knew any of us would be flying in this ship." Zuko pointed out.

"Now that everyone is all caught up what are we going to do about the propellers?" Suki asked.

"Well Jian-min's mines are filled with clinging vine. It just keeps growing and growing, which means right now it's growing around the propellers so they can't turn, but clinging vine doesn't like fire."

"I'm on it." Zuko said. He walked along the wall of the airship clinging to the sides until he could get to the airlock.

Katara watched out the front window as Zuko adroitly climbed down the ropes tethered to the side of the airship and then jumped on to the running board.

"He better hurry up before we crash into the mountains." Rumiko said.

"C'mon Zuko! C'mon Zuko!" Sokka cried. "I don't want to die in a Fire Nation airship."

"That's what you're worried about?" Katara snapped. "What difference does it make?"

"Because Katara." Sokka said as if he was proving an intellectual point. "They're the enemy. This is an enemy ship."

"Nobody is going to die." Her father said. "Stay calm everyone."

Katara closed her eyes.

"We're rising!" Suki cried out.

Katara opened her eyes and ran over to the window and looked out. "Zuko did it!"

Suki landed the giant airship in a field of koala sheep.

Sokka was the first one out of the ship and he bent down to kiss the ground several times. "Land sweet land!" He cried.

"They're are an awful lot of koala sheep around. I wouldn't be kissing the ground if I were you." Rumiko said. "You never know if that's mud or koala sheep shi-

"Aaah!" Sokka cried and started spitting. "Aww." he moaned.

Their father just shook his head. "Come on everyone. Hakoda instructed. "It will be late soon you should start making camp here. I saw plenty of camping supplies in the airship's cargo bay."

"Aren't you staying with us?" Sokka asked his father.

"No, There were some jet skis in the airship. Rumiko and I are going to use them and go back to find Haru and the others."

"And I'm going to get Nyla back.I miss my little snuffly wuffly." June said.

"You can't leave it will be night soon!" Katara exclaimed.

"I have to Katara." Her father said. "You have your duty to the people in your group, and I have a duty to the people in mines." He bent down and kissed her on the cheek and gave her a big hug. "You know this isn't goodbye forever. It's just farewell for right now."

Katara hugged him back for a long time. "I love you, dad."

"I love you too." Katara should have hardened her heart by now, but every time her father left her it was like the first time. She felt like she was still that little girl who had been so scared and helpless when the Fire Nation raided her village. When they came in and killed her mother. The same Fire Nation that Zuko was from.

She got right to work setting up the camp before nightfall so she wouldn't have anymore flashbacks of that day, but it was a full moon and everything about her felt powerful, even her memories.

"Wow, camping. It really seems like old times again, doesn't it." Sokka said once they had their camp set up and dinner had been cooked.

"If you really want it to feel like old times, I could, uhh, chase you around a while and try to capture you." Zuko replied.

"Haha." Katara said scornfully while the others laughed.

"To Zuko. Who knew after all those times he tried to snuff us out, today, he be our hero." Sokka said ignoring his sisters ill temper.

"Here, here." Everyone but Katara cried.

"I'm touched. I don't deserve this." Zuko said humbly but he was touched that his friends were acknowledging that he had change for the better.

"Yeah, no kidding." Katara said. The look she gave him was colder than any wind he'd ever felt back in the South Pole. She got up and walked away from the campfire. Away from him.

"What's with her?" Sokka asked.

"I wish I knew." Zuko answered and got up to go follow Katara.

"What's with him?" Zuko heard Sokka ask after his retreating back. He didn't stay to hear the speculation instead he followed Katara out to the cliff's edge.

"This isn't fair. Zuko said throwing his arms out helplessly. "Everyone else seems to trust me now. What is it with you?"

"Oh, everyone trust you now?" Katara questioned. I was the first person to trust you, remember Back in Ba Sing Se. She pointed across the water towards Ba Sing Se. "And you turned around and betrayed me. Betrayed all of us. "

Zuko looked down in shame. "What can I do to make it up to you?" He asked lifting his head so that he could look her in the eyes.

"You really want to know? She asked and walked up to him. "Hmm, maybe you could re-conquer Ba Sing Se in the name of the Earth King. She said acidly. "Or, I know. You could bring my mother back." She shouldered her way past him. Leaving him alone in the moonlight.

Katara's words cut Zuko like a knife. He knew the pain she felt. He would have given anything, anything to see his mother one last time. He couldn't bring Katara's mother back to her but he wanted to do something to ease some of the pain he and his country had caused her. He wanted to do something more than just say he was sorry. At this point saying sorry was the same as doing nothing. Sorry was not going to cut it.

Then it came to him. Closure. He could give her closure. He could find the lowlife that had killed her mother and then Katara could avenge her mother's death in whatever way she saw fit. The only dragonfly in the ointment was getting Katara to talk to him. She was too angry right now to talk to him, but Sokka wasn't.

He decided to go back to camp and try his luck with Sokka, but he bumped into Suki.

"Opps, wrong tent." She said.

"Sorry. Do you need to talk to Sokka too?" Zuko asked.

"Nope. Suki said and pushed her arms out to the side to show that every thing was smooth. "Not me." She turned away and walked off into the night.

Zuko held his hands out palm side out as if asking her back, what? He didn't have time for Suki's hangups. He renewed his resolve and marched over to Sokka's tent and pushed the tent flap open.

"Well, hellooo." Sokka stopped mid sentence when he saw that it was Zuko who had stepped into his tent.

Zuko stopped too. There were candles lit all around Sokka's tent and he lie on his bed roll, in what Zuko presumed Sokka thought was, a sexy position. There was a rose dangling between his teeth. If the spirits were benevolent they'd allow him to unsee what he just saw.

"Yes." Sokka said and sat up. "Why would I be expecting any one different?"

Zuko really needed to talk with Sokka so he pretended as if he didn't see him chew up the rose, swallow it, and then spit up the petals. He really was the most classless person that Zuko had ever met, but he was also the only one who could tell him what he needed to know.

"Your sister, she hates me and I don't know why! But I do care what she thinks of me." He said cutting straight to the chase.

"Nah, she doesn't hate you." Sokka reassured him. "Katara doesn't hate anyone. He waved his hand as if waving away the very idea that his sister could hate anyone. "Except maybe some people in the Fire Nation." It took a second but Sokka realized what he'd just said. His eyes widen at his mistake and he began to back pedal.

In his head Zuko began to count to ten.

"No, I mean, uh, not people who are good but used to be bad." I mean, bad people. Fire Nation people who are still bad, who have never been good and probably won't be ever!" Sokka continued to babble.

"Stop." Zuko demanded. If he didn't cut Sokka off now he'd be here all night. "Okay, listen. I know this may seem out of no where, but I want you to tell me what happened to your Mother."

Sokka looked up at him stunned. "What? Why would you want to know that?" He asked seriously.

"Katara mentioned it before when we were imprisoned together in Ba Sing Se and again just now when she was yelling at me. I think somehow she's connected her anger about that to her anger at me." He theorized.

Sokka's demeanor changed. He looked to the side and said flatly. "It's not a day I like to remember."

Zuko didn't say anything. He didn't dare.

"We were badly outnumbered. But somehow, we managed to drive them off. As quickly as they came they just left. I was so relieved when it was over but, that's because I didn't know yet what had happened. Sokka lowered his head and hid his face behind his hair. "I didn't know we lost our mother."

Zuko had always thought of Sokka as any annoying kid, but he'd been all wrong about him. Sokka was every bit of a warrior as he was. He never gave a thought of what it must have been like growing up in that remote village without a mother or a father. When he'd first come to Sokka's village Sokka hadn't been afraid to attack him, and now he realized everything Sokka was trying to protect.

"I'm so sorry." Zuko said even though he knew his words were pointless he still wanted Sokka to know that he was sorry. He felt humbled that Sokka would even tell him the story of his mother in the first place.

Sokka shrugged.

"Can you remember any details about the soldiers who raided your village Like, what the lead ship looked like?" Zuko asked. He was one step closer to bringing Katara closure.

"Yeah" Sokka said and paused in thought. "Sea Ravens. The main ship had flags with sea ravens on them."

"The symbol of The Southern Raiders. Thanks, Sokka." Zuko said.

"No problem. Sokka said and placed his arm on Zuko's shoulder. "Thanks for stopping by." He opened the flap to his tent and shoved Zuko through it.

Zuko was pretty sure that Sokka's haste to get rid of him had something to do with Suki and he was pretty sure he didn't want to know what that something was. He hastily walked away from Sokka's tent and back to Katara's.

"Katara." he called from outside of her tent. "I know it's late but I wanted to talk to you." There was no answer. "Katara!" Still she didn't answer. Either she was a sleep or she was flat out ignoring him. If Zuko was a betting man he would have bet on the latter. It didn't matter to Zuko. He wasn't going to be put off that easily. Katara was stubborn, but so was he. They had to work together and they couldn't do that if she didn't trust him. Whatever it took to gain Katara's trust he was willing to do. So he settled down in front of Katara's tent and closed his eyes and went to sleep for the night.

The next morning Zuko woke up with the sun and sat on a slab of stone in front of Katara's tent waiting for her to wake up. He wasn't going to give her the chance to avoid him all day.

The flap to Katara's tent opened up and she stepped out and scowled upon seeing him sitting in front of her. "You look terrible. She snapped.

"I waited out here all night."

"What do you want?" Katara asked. She walked passed him without looking at him. She rummaged through her bag and combed her hair all without looking at him.

"I know who killed your Mother. Zuko told her.

At once Katara stopped combing her hair turned around and finally she looked at him.

"I'm going to help you find him." He vowed.


	9. The Little Water Tribe Girl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are greatly appreciated.

Katara couldn't speak. From a young age she had played out scenarios in her head where she met her mother's killer. In everyone of those scenarios she looked him in the eyes and told him who she was. She told him about the sacrifice her mother had made for her. Then she made him pay. The ways in which she made him pay were always different. Pushing him off a cliff so that she could watch the look on his face as he fell. Setting him on fire so he could know what it felt like to burn. Drowning him so that he knew the might of a waterbender. The ways in which she wanted to hurt the man who killed her mother were endless. The anger she felt over her mother's death scared her, but it also sustained her. Like a second heart that beat within her.

"How?" She asked Zuko.

"I know who attacked your village that day. It was the Southern Raiders. We find the leader and we find your mother's killer."

"You're sure?"

"I'm Positive."

"All right. Ten minutes. She said. "Ten minutes is all I need to get ready."

Katara hurried back into her tent and began packing only what she thought she would need for the trip. She also needed to change her clothes. Her Water Tribe clothing would be a dead give away. This was going to be a mission of stealth and she needed to dress accordingly. Of course she had not packed anything for this type of situation, but she would probably be able to find something on the airship. After she finished packing her bag she boarded the airship and began looking for something that didn't scream Water Tribe.

She searched the ship until she found a storage locker full of long black cloaks. She picked out one for herself and picked one that she figured would fit Zuko. She took the cloaks straight to Zuko's tent.

"Open up it's me." She called out.

The flap to the tent opened at once and she stepped through. "I got this for you."

Zuko held up the black cloak. "Thanks."

"Not a problem." She said as she shrugged into her cloak.

"We should tell the others before we go." Zuko said. "We're going to be gone for at least two days."

Katara shouldered her backpack. "Let's get this over with."

Sokka and Suki were still sitting around the camp fire. Sokka was telling Suki a funny story and she was laughing so hard there were tears running down her face.

"Zuko and I are going on a field trip." She said abruptly. "We're going to find the man who took my Mother from me."

Their laughter stopped at once.

"You and Zuko are going to what?" Sokka asked. His mouth hung open long after he had asked the question.

"You heard me." Katara said. She wasn't going to repeat herself.

"How?" Sokka asked.

"I figured it out after you told me the story of the raid on your village. I know who did it. And I know how to find him." Zuko explained.

Sokka closed his slack jaw and turned to look at his sister. "I'm not saying you shouldn't go, but Katara-

"Don't try to stop us." Katara snapped at her brother.

"What are you going to do when you find him?" Suki asked.

Katara shrugged. "I don't know, and I won't until I see him."

"She needs this, Zuko said glaring at Sokka and Suki. "This is about getting closure and justice."

"She was my Mother too, but I don't know if this is a good idea."

"Then you didn't love her the way I did."

She was so angry right now, If Sokka had seen their mother's body, had seen what that monster had done to her, he would feel the same way she did. Thankfully he had been spared that pain, but Katara hadn't. She could never forget what she saw when she ran back into that tent. Or how their father had dropped to his knees and let out screams that gave her chills just thinking about it. For as long as she lived she would never forgive what that man did to her. To her family. To her mother. Never.

"Katara." Sokka cried.

She had to turn away from the hurt look on her brother's face. The hurt look that she had caused. Nothing gave her the right to attack her brother's love for their mother. When she got back she would apologize to him, but right now she just needed all of this to end.

"This shouldn't take more than two days." Katara said as she climbed on to the back of Appa.

When Zuko climbed up and settled himself into the saddle Katara flicked Appa's reins sharply and called out. "Yip, yip." Appa pumped all six of his powerful legs and ascended. Katara watched her brother's worried face as it fell from her view. She wanted to tell him it was their mother's killer he should be worried about.

Appa flew right past the full moon and Katara felt her skin tingle from the nearness of it . She flexed her fingers around the reins. Underneath the full moon and surrounded by water she felt unstoppable.

"We need to find the Fire Navy communication tower." Zuko explained. "All the navy's movements are coordinated by messenger hawk. And every tower has to be up to date on where everyone is deployed."

"So once we find the communication tower we bust in and take the information we need."

"Not exactly. Zuko cautioned. "We need to be stealthy and make sure no one spots us otherwise they'll warn the southern raiders long before we reach them."

As much as Katara wanted to go in and waterbend the hell out of soldiers she knew what Zuko was saying made sense. This was not a mission she planned on failing. Her eyes searched the horizon for a communication tower. The moon provided plenty of light for her to see. The advantage of living on the South Pole for most of her life was she could see things on the water and in the darkness faster than most people. She spotted the communication tower even before Zuko did. She smiled to herself. The spirits were benevolent tonight.

The communication tower was a lone edifice on a huge rock island. It was too well guarded to be able to fly directly there so Katara flew Appa to a smaller rocky outcrop beside the rock island. From there she formed a huge sheet of ice and used it as a boat and sailed it across the open waves to the island. When they had reached the island Katara created a huge wave to lift them up to the communication tower.

Quietly as they could the pair made their way inside. She followed Zuko's lead down hallways and corridors until they ended up in a crawl space above the Fire Navy dispatcher's room. There was a ventilation grate on the floor that allowed them to see down into the dispatcher's room below. There was only one person in the room. A woman working on a map. A bowl of ink sat on the table in front of her.

Using her bending Katara caused the ink to spill from the bowl and on the map and the woman working on it. As she hoped the woman got up from the table and went to wash the ink off her hands before it could dry and stain. They wasted no time in getting down to the Dispatcher's room. For once Zuko's military training was working in her favor. He located the map of the Southern Raiders and unrolled it on a table.

"Bam!" Zuko said pointing to the spot on the map where the Southern Raiders were deployed. "On patrol near Whale Tail island."

"Whale Tail island here we come." Katara said. She ran out of the communication tower so fast that Zuko struggled to keep up with her. He was still climbing up on to Appa's saddle as she was yelling yip yip.

"You should get some rest. We'll be there in a few hours. You'll need all your strength." Zuko suggested.

"Now, don't you worry about my strength. I have plenty. I'm not the helpless little girl I was when they came." She said. "It was such a normal day. That's one of the things I remember most. Sokka and I were having a snowball fight like we did almost everyday. I don't know why but as soon as the black snow started falling I ran to find my mom. I knew she needed me. I just knew it."

Katara felt like no matter how fast she ran that day it wasn't fast enough. That day had been like being trapped in a nightmare where you ran and ran, but you never got anywhere.

"He was already in our house when I got there." Katara said. Her voice was flat. Whenever she spoke of that day she had to remove herself from all emotions. Feeling what she had felt that day would be her undoing. "I knew right away he was evil. He stood over my mom like she was something he wanted to get out of his way. He didn't act as if he saw a person. He didn't see my mother. He saw a job he had to do." Katara curled her fingers into the palm of her hands. "My mother begged him to let me go and he did, but only because she promise to tell him what she knew. Where the last waterbender in the South pole was hiding." Katara could feel herself breaking apart. If only she had been faster. If only she had not left the tent. If only she hadn't been born a waterbender her mother might still be alive. "My mom told me to go find my dad, and I ran as fast as I could, but, we were too late. When we got there, the man was gone. And so was she."

"Your mother was a brave woman."

"I know." Katara touched her mother's necklace. It was the only thing to survive the flames that had been hot enough to melt bone into ashes. Her chest felt tight with anger and unshed tears.

Zuko took over flying Appa and insisted that Katara try and get some sleep.

Katara finally conceded. A little sleep didn't sound like such a bad thing. She switched places with Zuko and curled up on Appa.

"There!" Zuko cried.

Katara jerked herself out of her sleep.

"See those Sea Raven flags?" He asked and threw her a telescope in case she didn't. "It's The Southern Raiders."

Katara looked through the telescope. Sure enough there was the Southern Raiders' ship out in the distance. It's flag proudly waved in the night sky. Soon the Southern Raiders would have nothing to be proud about. She lowered the telescope. "Let's do this."

Appa dived down in to the water pumping his six massive legs in double time. Katara stood up and held back the water with her bending creating an air bubble for everyone.

The Fire Navy soldiers were on their lunch break. They had no idea what was about to happen. While Appa was still under water Katara bent a long whip of water, wrapped it around an unsuspecting soldier, and flung him off the side of the ship into the water below.

The renaming soldiers looked over the side of the ship into the water to try and determine where their fellow shipmate had gone, and that's when Katara struck again. Appa swam under the ship and rose up slowly from the water on the other side. Despite being ten tons Appa made almost no sound. The soldiers certainly didn't hear anyone coming. They were grouped together eating and chatting unaware that they were seconds away from one bad night.

Katara bent up a powerful wave that rocked the ship sideways and washed the soldiers out into the sea. Appa landed neatly on the deck of the ship. One lone soldier that had some how managed not to get washed over by Katara's mini tidal wave tried to attack, but Katara was quicker she knocked him off the side of the ship with a water canon blast to the stomach. He flew of the ship and a few seconds later she heard him splash down. Nothing was going to stop her now that she had come this far.

Once inside of the ship she and Zuko raced down the corridor. Katara had formed a pair of aqua arms she was ready for anything or anyone who might come their way, but it was Zuko who caught the surprise attacker who popped out of a supply closet brandishing a sword at them. Zuko caught his hands and forced him back into the closet, and then trapped him inside by placing the soldier's own sword through the door handles.

Katara waited by Zuko's side to make sure that he didn't need her for backup. He didn't.

"This is it, Katara. Are you ready to face him?" Zuko asked as the two of them stood before the final barrier between her and her mother's killer.

She didn't answer. She pulled her face mask down and with an angry grunt aimed a powerful stream of water at the closed door before her. The metal door groaned as it was forced back on it's hinges and she and Zuko rushed into the room.

The Fire Navy Captain began firing on sight. Zuko must have suspected that would be the outcome because he quickly stepped in front of Katara and began deflecting the Captain's fiery fist blast and quickly bent out his own.

"Who are you?" The Captain asked. A quick fire volley with Zuko and he'd come to realize that he was up against a formidable foe.

"You don't remember her?" Zuko asked. "You will soon. Trust me." He aimed a fire blast at the Captain's head and the Captain had to spin out of the way to avoid being hit by the flame.

The Captain rounded on Zuko and prepared to strike back with a flame of his own, but Katara had had enough. The moon was full, Hama had taught her well, and Yue was on her side. Nothing could stop her. She barely had to move from the spot she was standing in to bloodbend him. She whipped The Captain's arms around like branches in a windstorm. She was the spider and he was merely a fly.

Zuko didn't know what was happening to the Captain at first. For a second he thought he was trying to dance, perhaps the steps to a Firebending form Zuko didn't know.

"What?" The Captain asked out loud. "What's happening to me?"

Then Zuko realized the Captain wasn't doing anything he was having something done to him. He looked at Katara. She was doing it. She was the one controlling the Captain. His eyes widened in shock as he watch Katara bring the Captain down to the floor in a kneeling position. All with the ease of a few simple movements.

"Think back. Zuko said recovering from his shock. "Think back to your last raid on the Southern Water Tribe."

"I don't know what you're talking about." The Captain whimpered as Katara continued to work her will against his. "Please, I don't know!"

"Don't lie!" Zuko growled. He knelt down and slapped the floor beside the Captain's head. "You look her in the eye and you tell me you don't remember what you did." He pointed toward Katara. He wanted the coward to finally face her.

Katara bought the Captain up to his knees so that she could look him into his face. "He's not the man." She said. Her voice sounded as if all the air had been sucked from her body.

"What?!" Zuko shouted. "What do you mean he's not? He's a leader of The Southern Raiders! He has to be the guy!"

Katara didn't bother to argue with him. She just turned and began walking out of the room.

Zuko however wasn't so ready to give up. He had made a promise to Katara and he intended on keeping that promise. He grabbed the Captain up off of the ground and slammed him into the wall roughly. "If you're not the man we're looking for, who is?"

"You must be looking for Yon Rha. He retired four years ago."

"Where does he live?" Zuko barked.

"Fi-fire Cc-c-cove! He lives in the village of Fire Cove."

Katara felt hollow. It wasn't him! How could she have come all of this way to not find her mother's killer? She was so blinded by her tears that she had to land Appa in the first patch of grass she found. All of her anger had now become grief.

"Why Yue?" She sobbed as she slid down from Appa's saddle. She dropped to her knees and wept openly. She had failed her mother and wasted everyone's time in the process.

"Katara are you OK?" Zuko asked.

"No! This was a waste of time!" Katara shouted. "I should have never come." Angry tears continued to spill from her eyes. She'd been so ready to take her mother's killer on, but that wasn't him. Somewhere on this earth her mother's killer still walked free never giving a second thought to what he had done.

"It isn't a waste of time Katara. We can still find the man who killed your mother. We know who we should be looking for." Zuko said. "We know his name."

Katara spun around. "Why? Why are you doing this?" She shouted at him.

Zuko tried to step into her space to calm her down, but Katara pushed him away.

"Is there something in this for you?" She asked. "Is this some kind of ego stroke for you? You do one thing for the broken little Water Tribe girl and the slate gets wiped clean, is that what this field trip is all about?"

"Before I left the Fire Palace to come find you I learned that my mother was banished from the Fire Nation for protecting me. Up until now I never knew why she left, but I still remember the last night I saw her. She came into my room one night and told me that she loved me. She told me that everything she ever did was to protect me, and to never forget that. I never have."Zuko confessed. He stepped closer to Katara closing the space she had created between them and shocked her by wiping away her tears.

The disappointment of not finding her mother's killer had left Katara feeling so cold inside that she wanted to curl up in Zuko's warmth. She wanted him to wrap his arms around her and hold her until the sun came up. He was always warmer than anyone else she knew, but she guessed that was because he was a firebender.

"I never saw my mother again after that night. Part of me will always feel I'm to blame for her banishment. If she hadn't of been trying to protect me she never would have been banished, but that's what mom's are like Katara. Your mother's death isn't your fault, and I thought if you got to confront your mother's killer you'd finally be able to put the blame where it belongs, and not on yourself. Zuko took one of her hands and placed it over his heart. "I can't undo what I've done to you or what the Fire Nation has done to you." He put his hand on top of her hand."But I can give you closure. I promise you that."

Katara's hand was still resting on Zuko's chest and she could feel how fast his heart was beating. She looked into Zuko's eyes, she never could resist, and felt trapped by his gaze. He looked so beautiful in the moonlight. The feelings she had for him that she kept hidden just beneath the surface began to stir. Zuko understood a part of her that everyone else refused to see. He accepted her darkness and enabled her to see a part of him he rarely ever showed. His vulnerability.

"I didn't know about your mother." Her words seemed small in comparison with the moment. Katara wish she had the courage to tell him that the best parts of himself were the parts he tried so hard to hide.

"No one knows." He said. "I've never told anyone before."

"I won't tell." Katara said. She reached down and absent-mindlessly touched her mother's necklace. "I promise."

"I'm sorry I took your mother's necklace. If my own mother knew how dishonorably I've behaved she'd be ashamed of me."

"No she wouldn't" Katara said. "You've changed and that would mean more to her then anything else."

"Do you really think so?"

"I know so, that's what mothers are like."

Zuko smiled down at Katara and it made her feel like she was riding the crest of a huge wave. Their lives paralleled each other in so many ways how could she not be drawn to him? She had been ever since that day in Ba Sing Se. Back then she knew he had the potential to be the person he was becoming now, but she just couldn't be sure he wouldn't relapse. Katara took a step back from Zuko and let out the breath she had been holding. Spirits help her she wanted him. She'd only be lying to herself if she said she didn't. When he had said that Mai was his ex-girlfriend it excited her more than it had a right to.

"This looks like a nice enough place to set up camp, what do you think?" Zuko asked.

Katara looked around and nodded. "Looks fine to me."

Zuko climbed up onto Appa's saddle and handed their supplies down to her. After all the supplies were put away Katara fed Appa and Zuko set up their tent and then started a fire.

Katara got out the supplies for dinner. It wasn't much just rice, blubbered seal jerky, and wild onions and mushrooms she found growing around the area. She knew them to be edible thanks to Chunhua. With the food they had on hand Katara decided the easiest thing to do was make soup.

"How can I help?" Zuko asked.

"Would you mind making some tea?"

Zuko nodded. "I used to make the most awful tea, but my uncle would never tell me. I only found out because I caught him spilling out a cup of tea I had just made him one day." Zuko laughed. "He could have just told me."

"So how come you're so good at it now?"

"My uncle taught me. He pretty much taught me everything I know."

Katara watched Zuko making the tea with the same artistry he had back in Taku. Like a master of the stage every time Zuko made tea he did it a little different and each performance seemed better than the last. She loved the intimate feeling that was created when ever he made her tea. Zuko could make tea for a thousand other people but it always felt like their special little ritual when he made tea for her. He sat down next to her and handed her a cup.

"Thank you." Katara said and took the cup from Zuko.

"It's the least I could do."

They both turned away from each other to watch the grass rippling in the breeze in front of them.

"Soup smells good." Zuko noted.

"That means it's almost done." Katara said and gave it a stir with her bending.

"I've been all over the world but I haven't had a chance to eat much Water Tribe cuisine, of course that probably has a lot to do with me being public enemy to both the North and the South." Zuko said.

Katara set up the wooden crate she packed some of their supplies in as a dinner table. She set out two bowls with spoons and bent some of the soup into the bowls. "When this war is over you'll have to come back to the Southern Water Tribe as a friend."

"I'd like that." Zuko said and poured her another cup of tea.

This was not how she expected this field trip to go at all. It seemed like she gone through every range of emotion that she could and now she was calm,relaxed, and thoroughly enjoying herself with Zuko of all people. In this moment she felt closer to him than she had to anyone in a long time.

"Good soup."

"Thanks." Katara said. "I don't think this counts as true Water Tribe cuisine since basically I just threw it together."

"The true cuisine of any culture are meals that are just thrown together." Zuko said.

When all the dishes were clean and the fire was out Katara and Zuko sat side by side and looked up at the stars.

"Why don't we sleep outside underneath all the stars and the full moon." Katara suggested. "It will be better than sleeping in that musty tent."

Zuko shrugged.

They brought their bed rolls outside lay them down side by side. Their bed rolls were so close together they almost made one bed.

"This is better. Zuko said. He lie back on his bed roll with his hands resting on his chest.

"I told you, there are too many stars in the sky to spend the night sleeping in a tent." Katara pointed up to the sky. "Look you can see the little flipper."

"The what?"

"You know the big flipper and the little flipper. The two constellations that are famous for looking like a tiger seal's flippers." Katara took Zuko's hand from his chest and guided it across the night sky to the constellation. "Right there."

"Yeah, it does look like it could be a tiger seal's flipper." Zuko said as Katara used his hand to trace the outline of the constellation.

Katara moved Zuko's hand up and to the left. "There's the big flipper. I can't believe you've never heard of them." It felt so natural to be holding Zuko's hand that she didn't want to let go. She liked the way his hands were so much bigger than hers. When he took her hand it was completely enveloped in his. After tonight there would be no reason for the two of them to be this close anymore.

"I only know about the coiled ratviper."

"Where is that one?"

Zuko took Katara's hand and it was like sparks went off inside of him. He felt like he could fly ten times higher than Appa ever could.

"See." He said. "Those cluster of stars right there look like a snake ready to strike."

"Ooh. I see it!" Katara cried excitedly. She moved closer to Zuko so that their sides were pressed together and their heads were touching.

It was taking everything inside of Zuko to lie there and be normal. He looked up at the coiled rat-viper constellation and prayed to the Spirits that Katara wouldn't ask him a question. Nothing that came out of his mouth right now would be intelligible. She didn't say anything however. She just kept looking up at the stars.

Tomorrow everything would be different. They would find the man who killed Katara's mother and she would get her vengeance. She could exact some hell of a vengeance from what he'd seen of her back at the communication tower. What she had done to that Fire Navy Captain, how she had controlled his body like a puppeteer, he had heard stories about an old woman with that power. He hadn't believe the stories until now. Katara was more powerful and more amazing than he could have ever imagined. No matter what happened between them after this, nothing could take away from these last few days.

Usually Zuko was the one to wake up before Katara, but when he woke up this morning she was already up. He watched her as she ate one of the sticky buns that she had packed and drank some mango juice.

"What?!"

Zuko sat up in his bed roll. "Did you sleep at all?" he asked her.

"I slept enough." She replied. "We should get going."

"The sun isn't even up yet."

"Yeah, well too bad I am." Katara said.

Zuko nodded. Tunnel vision Katara was back. He helped her clean up their campsite. Then he took Appa's reins and flew them into the outskirts of the village where Yon Rha lived. He hid Appa behind a huge hill.

Thick clouds had rolled in. They were heavy with rain. "We'll walk into the village from here. We should scope out market square first. That's where most of the villagers will be."

Side by side the climbed up a long path of zigzagging stone steps that led to the market square. Zuko's heart beat so loudly in his chest he wondered if Katara could hear it. He looked over at her as she walked beside him. Her eyes were clouded over with thought. Wherever she was it was a million miles away from him.

The market square was empty save for one merchant selling fruits and vegetables. Katara and Zuko stood in a dark corner of the market waiting for a crowd to arrive. It didn't take long before the first customer showed up. Katara studied him. The spirits were benevolent once again. It was Yon Rha. Her mother's killer. This time Katara was sure. He was a tall man with long gray hair. Even though he had retired four years ago she could see that he clearly kept in shape. He was not someone to take lightly, but she didn't have to tell Zuko that.

Katara stalked after Yon Rha like he was prey. She would catch him by surprise just like he had caught her mother by surprise. She could feel hatred building inside of her. The pit of her stomach churned and pitched as though it were a sea of acid. Katara's palms were burning her face was burning. It took every last ounce of self control she had not to run up behind Yoh Rha and push him down the steps. Watch all his bones break and stand over his broken and bloodied body as he drew his last breaths, but then he'd never know who she was. She planned on making sure he never forgot.

Yon Rha walked into the market square she could tell that he was aware of her presence. He was as skittish as an ostrich horse.

She and Zuko slipped behind an empty food stall and watched Yon Rha as he made his purchases.

"Hello?" Yon Rha called out. "Did you see someone?" He asked the man running the food stall.

The owner of the stall shook his head.

Yon Rah took his purchases and started back down the stone steps towards his home. Katara and Zuko stayed hidden behind the food stall for a few minutes before going after him.

"Hello?" Yon Rha cried out. "Is someone there?"

"That was him. That was the monster." Katara told Zuko as they continued to watch her mother's killer make his way home.

Rain began to fall at a steady pace. Katara didn't even feel it. All she could think about was getting revenge on Yon Rha. Any minute he would walk into the tripwire Zuko had set up, and then it would be all over, but the crying.

Yon Rha stopped in the middle of the path and looked around for his pursuers. Finding no one he continued on his way only to stop again when his suspicions got the better of him. "Nobody sneaks up on me without being burned." He shouted and bent out a huge column of flame.

You can look all you want to but you'll never find us. Katara thought. Not before we find you, and by then it will be too late.

Believing he had chased whoever it was that was following him away Yon Rha bent down to retrieve his fallen groceries. He looked behind him one last time to check that he was alone and didn't notice the tripwire. It did its job and knocked him flat on his murdering face.

As Yon Rha got to his feet Zuko sent a well aimed fire ball at his face. He had to scramble back like a crab to keep form being burned.

"We weren't behind the bush. And I wouldn't try firebending again." Zuko warned.

"Do you know who I am?" Katara asked coldly.

"No, I'm not sure."

"Oh you better remember me like your life depends on it!" She demanded. "Why don't you take a closer look."

"Yes, yes. I remember you now. You're the little Water Tribe girl."

No where left to go. No where left to run little man. Katara thought. All the hatred she felt for the Fire Nation she felt for this man.

"I was only following orders that day." Yoh Rha gulped. "Strict orders from Fire Lord Oazi himself! He wanted me to take the waterbender out. It was nothing personal." He sniveled. He was still laboring under the misapprehension that anything he said could change her mind.

"She lied to you. She was protecting the last waterbender."

"What?" Yoh Rha asked. He had no idea who he took from the world that day."Who?"

"ME!" Katara screamed and turned to face Yoh Rha. She had heard the term blind rage before, but up until now she had not realized it was more than a phrase. It was also a physical manifestation. Katara couldn't see anything in that moment all she could feel was her anger. Her whole body burned hot with the strength of her anger. She didn't have a mother because of this poor excuse for a human being, and he had the gull to beg for her mercy? Had he shown her mother any mercy?

She held her arms out to her sides and stopped the rain from falling around her. Using all of her muscles, all of her concentration, and her sheer force of will she bent the rain back, gathering it until she formed a gigantic dome that encased them all. A few stray water droplets hung and pulsed in the air in rhythm with her beating heart. Katara wrenched her hands violently above her head and bent huge ice daggers. She turned on the spot and hurled the solid daggers of ice straight at Yon Rha. It ended now.

All Yon Rha could do was cover his face and wait for his end to come.

All of Katara's anger vanished the moment she looked at Yon Rha's cowering form. She thought of her mother cowering on the ground and how she must have felt knowing that she was going to die. He hadn't even thought of her life for a second. That's how inhumane and empty he was. What would she gain from killing him? It wouldn't bring her mother back. Or stop the war. It wouldn't even give her a sense of justice. The only thing it would do was destroy her. Then Yon Rha would have taken two lives instead of one. Her mother had given her life so that Katara could live.

The huge jagged ice daggers that she formed hung suspended in the air. She couldn't do it. The ice daggers melted with her waning anger and splashed water over Yon Rha instead impaling him.

"I did a bad thing. I know I did and you deserve revenge. So why don't you take my Mother? That would be fair."

"I always wonder what kind of person could do such a thing." She said staring at Yon Rha who was still groveling on the ground, she doubted if he was even sorry. He was selling her a show he thought she wanted to see. Anything to save his worthless existence. "But now that I see you, I think I understand. There's just nothing inside you. Nothing at all. You're pathetic and sad and empty."

"Please spare me." Yon Rha begged.

"But as much as I hate you I just can't do it."

Zuko's voice came back to her "Your mother's death isn't your fault, and I thought if you got to confront your mother's killer you'd finally be able to put the blame where it belongs, and not on yourself." Zuko was right. The monster she had wanted to kill all this time was her guilt. The guilt she felt over her mother having to die so that she could live. It was the invisible dark spirit she'd been fighting for most of her life. The guilt is what she wanted to destroy. Not Yon Rha, and not herself, not any more.

Finally it was over. She turned from Yon Rha and walked back to where Zuko had hidden Appa earlier.

"Katara?"

"I'm fine. I'll be fine Zuko."

"You ready to leave this place?"

Katara didn't even have to look back. She just nodded. "Yes. There's nothing left for me here."

Zuko flew them back to the patch of grass she had landed in earlier. She slept the whole way there, but despite how sleepy she was Katara still managed to wake up before the sun had risen.

"Morning." Zuko said and handed her a cup of tea.

Katara yawned, took the cup of tea, and sat down next to Zuko. "Morning."

"We should head out soon." Zuko said. "Or the others will start to worry."

"Let's watch the sun rise first." She reached down and took Zuko's hand and the two them moved closer together and watched as the sun rose high into the morning sky.

The sun was a golden fiery amber as it sunk in the sky. It reminded Katara of the color of Zuko's eyes. She never noticed before what beautiful eyes he had. She had always thought that Zuko was handsome, but now he was beautiful.

Sokka and Suki were sitting around a campfire. Their heads were close together and they were talking about something intensely. Sokka was all hand movements and facial expressions. Suki's brows were furrowed and she was nodding a lot. Katara wonder what they were talking about. Probably her and Zuko..

As she and Zuko approached the campfire she cleared her throat .

"Katara! Zuko! You're back!" Suki cried and ran up to hug her.

"So. How did it go?" Sokka asked. "Did you...?"

Katara shook her head and went up to her brother and hugged him. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier. It was uncalled for. No matter how upset I was I should have never question your love for our mother." She bowed her head.

"I forgive you." Sokka said.

"Aang what are you doing here?" Zuko asked.

Katara stepped out of her brother's embrace and turned around.

Aang and Toph were standing side by side. Aang looked sheepish and slightly guilty, and Toph looked bored and annoyed.

"Toph and I came looking for you. You were gone so long we got worried." Aang explained.

"Aang got worried." Toph amended."I wanted to stay in Taku."

"No need to worry. I'm doing fine." Katara reassured him.

"Sokka told me what you went to go do, or hopefully what you didn't go do."

"I didn't." Katara said.

"I'm proud of you." Aang replied. The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed ratviper. While you watch your enemy go down, you're being poisoned yourself."

"I wanted to do it. I wanted to take out all my anger at him but, I couldn't. Katara closed her eyes. "I don't know if it's because I'm too weak to do it or if it's because I'm strong enough not to."

"You did the right thing Forgiveness is the first step you have to take to begin healing." Aang explained.

"But I didn't forgive him. I'll never forgive him. Katara closed her eyes. Aang couldn't know it because he hadn't gone along, but she was healing. She was finally able to forgive herself for surviving, and that was thanks in part to Zuko who wasn't anymore to blame for her mother's death than she was.

She turned to Zuko "But I am ready to forgive you." She told him. After all he was part of the reason why the heavy stone of guilt had been lifted from her shoulders. Looking into Zuko's face now she didn't see the enemy. He was part of the group. He was her friend. More than a friend. Katara let what she was feeling for him show on her face and she didn't care. She couldn't have hidden her emotions for him if she tried. Katara wanted him to see. She wanted to see where these feelings would take them. There were somethings in life you couldn't fight.

Katara's words were like music to Zuko's ears. As she approached him he could feel himself trembling inside. She had never looked him in the eyes before, not like this. She didn't want to forget what happened between them anymore than he did. When she hugged him his arms went automatically around her. It felt so natural like she was already his. Like they already belonged to one another. Somewhere on that trip the two of them had turned a corner and now there was no going back. Not that Zuko wanted to go back. He wanted to kiss Katara. He wanted to wrap his hands around her hair. She smelled wonderful like river lilies.

Katara stepped away from their embrace, and it was like having his skin stripped from him. Happy moments like these were so few and far between in Zuko's life. Katara coming into his life was more than he would have ever dared to dream for. He never knew he could want someone as much as he wanted Katara. He couldn't not act on his feelings, and as much as he cared for Mai he could never go back to being her boyfriend. They had been growing apart for awhile now and the war only seemed to widen the chasm between them. Even if Katara didn't feel the same way about him as he felt about her he still had to tell her how he felt. It was still worth the risk. The best things in life always were.


	10. Merely Ember Island Players

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are greatly appreciated.

"So what's on the agenda today?" Aang asked. "What do we do now that the gang is back together?"

"Start your firebending lessons." Zuko said. "We need to make up for lost time."

"Should we start my lesson here or wait until we get back to Taku?" Aang asked.

Katara shook the crumbs from the group's breakfast off the table cloth and the sharp snapping sound of the fabric echoed around their campsite. The sound reminded her of the noise ice floes made when they cracked. She missed her home more than she thought would ever be possible. It was not too long ago she wished nothing more than to leave the South Pole and see the world, but the thing about seeing the world was it made you realize how much where you came from had a part in making you who you were.

"I don't think we should go back to Taku." Sokka announced.

"Why not?" Suki asked. She tossed a moon peach down to Momo who sat down next to her feet and began to noisily eat.

"The Fire Nation has been patrolling that area again. Haru left because he didn't want anyone to find out where we were staying, and neither do I."

"Sokka's right." Aang said. "I can't put Chunhua into the middle of our battle. We have to keep her and the herbalist institute safe."

"So where do we go from here?" Toph asked. "We're running out of places to stay."

"I know where we can go." Zuko spoke up.

"Where?" Katara asked. She folded up the table cloth and put it into a wooden travel crate.

"Ember Island. My family has a beach house there. It's more than big enough for all of us and we can stay there as long as we like."

"You don't think someone will find us hiding from the Fire Lord in his own house?" Katara asked.

"My Father hasn't gone there since our family was actually happy and that was a long time ago. This is the last place anyone would think to look for us." Zuko explained.

"I'm sorry." Katara said to Zuko.

"Why? You didn't do anything."

"I'm still sorry." She placed her hand on top of his and gave it a small squeeze.

Suki looked at Katara then Zuko and back to Katara and arched an eyebrow.

Katara kept her face as blank as possible. Until she talked to Zuko there was nothing to talk about. She knew that he felt the same way about her that she felt about him, but until he spoke the words out loud, until they both did there was nothing to talk about.

"We should say goodbye to Chunhua first." Katara said as she climbed onto the back of Appa's saddle. "She'll worry if we just leave without telling her."

"OK, but we'll have to make it quick." Sokka said.

"Sir, schedule master, Sir!" Toph shouted and gave Sokka a mocking salute.

Sokka turned around and glared at Toph, though the facial expression was lost on her, and then flicked Appa's reins and yelled. "Yip,yip!"

Aang sat behind Sokka, and Toph sat next to Aang and clung onto the saddle. Suki lie down in the middle and Katara sat in the back next to Zuko. She found it hard to behave normally around him now. She couldn't help but wonder things like did he always smell so good? Was he a good kisser? Did his body look just as amazing underneath all of his clothes? The thought of her kissing Zuko without a stitch of clothing on made Katara blush deeply.

"You OK, Katara?" Zuko asked. "Your face looks a little flush."

"Oh, me? I'm all right." Katara said.

Zuko looked at her and a little smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. Almost as if he knew what she had been thinking, but there was no way he could have.

"I have to admit that I'm curious to see what your house on Ember Island looks like." Suki said as she sat up.

"I guess that makes two of us, because I am too." Aang said.

"Make that three." Sokka shouted from up front to be heard over the wind. "I want to know how Prince Fire Pants spent his summer vacations." Sokka laughed. "Prince Fire Pants, just when I think I can't top myself."

Zuko rolled his eyes.

Katara laughed. If only he knew all the colorful names Sokka had come up with for him while he'd been chasing them across the world. How she had hated the very thought of Zuko back then. How very much things had changed now.

"I wish we didn't have to leave Taku." Toph wined. "I really liked that place."

"Me too!" Aang said. "I learned some amazing earthbending there."

"Of course you did." Toph replied. "You were taught by the best."

"You're right, Katara is the best."

"Don't make me throw you off of Appa, Twinkle toes." Toph warned. "It's a long way down."

"I don't think that would be a problem for Aang." Suki pointed out.

"Yeah, if anyone is likely to get thrown off of Appa it's you, Toph." Sokka added.

"Me! "Why me?" Toph screeched.

"Because you'd never see it coming." Sokka got out through barely contained laughter. A few seconds later he gave up all pretenses of trying to hold back his laughter. He laughed at his own bad joke until tears ran down his cheeks.

Toph bent a rock she'd been carrying off the back of Sokka's head.

Sokka grumbled something unpleasant under his breath as the rock bounced off of his hard head and disappeared into the clouds.

Katara watched Zuko watching their little group. He often studied the group when he thought no one was looking at him. He always had the look of someone from the lower ring who'd just found out they were the true heir to the Earth Kingdom. As if he couldn't quite believe his good fortune was true. It made Katara smile and broke her heart at the same time.

Ever since she'd been trapped inside of one of his darkest memories, one in which his father plotted to have him killed, Katara couldn't help but wonder what life had been like for Zuko growing up as the Fire Prince. She had always imagined that he grew up with parents that spoiled him beyond belief and had servants who waited on him hand and foot. Now she knew that wasn't the whole story, but she didn't know his story. She hardly knew anything about him. Except for what she felt for him.

She wasn't in love with Zuko but she was falling for him, and falling hard. She had seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. She had seen him without the royalty and the bending, but there was still so much she didn't know about him. Zuko move closer to Katara so that their sides were touching and whether it was consciously or unconsciously she didn't know, but she wanted to reach out and touch him. To run her hands through his hair. Anything just to feel the warmth of his skin on hers again. Anything to feel like his again. She wondred how they had ever been enemies in the first place. It was hard to believe that only weeks ago he'd been hell bent on capturing Aang. She had never thought to ask him why. Beyond the fame and prestige it would have brought him and the Fire Nation there had to be another reason why he doggedly pursued them across the world.

They reached Taku by early afternoon. Only stopping once for a bathroom break.

"I feel awful for leaving Chunhua alone. I know she's lived by herself for a long time, but everybody needs someone. It's not right that she's all alone." Katara said.

"I know." Suki agreed. "Too bad she can't leave Taku and your Gran-gran can't leave the South pole. I have a feeling the two of them would really get along."

Katara had had the same thought. She hated to think of her Gran-gran all alone back in the South Pole with only little children for company. Who was helping her out now? Perhaps after the war was over the two women could meet. Yue knew that her Gran-gran deserved a vacation and a friend her own age.

"Gran-gran will be fine. Dad will make sure of it." Sokka gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Besides the Fire Nation has no reason to go to the South Pole any more."

That was true. The Fire Nation hadn't visited the South Pole until Zuko came there looking for Aang. What reason would they have to return when they believed that they wiped out the entire Southern Water Tribe of benders.

Toph scrambled off of Appa and landed on the ground sending up a small cloud of dirt. "Here comes Chunhua and Miyuki." She announced.

The gang walked over to Chunhua who was coming out of one of her green houses carrying a handful of bright purple flowers. Her cat Miyuki was trailing right behind her.

"So you finally made it back." Chunhua said. "I was beginning to think you were going to leave me without saying goodbye." She put her flowers down on the ground next to Miyuki.

Miyuki sniffed the flowers and then began to roll around in them.

"We would never do that." Katara said. She reached out and took Chunhua's soft warm wrinkled hands in hers. "We don't want to leave. We want to stay here with you, but we don't want Princess Azula bringing the Fire Nation here. If she found out about your institute she would occupy it in the name of her father. I'm so sorry." Katara said in a rush. She stepped forward to give Chunhua a hug. She looked small and frail but Katara could feel the strength of all of the mountains within her.

"Don't feel sorry for me. I choose to stay here because this place is the legacy I want to leave behind. Now if all of you really want to do something for me end this war, and carry on Taku's legacy. Bring her back to her former glory."

"I will. Katara said. "I promise."

"I'll help too. You have my word as the Avatar."

"It would be my honor and the honor of the other Kyoshi Warriors to help rebuild Taku."

"Count me in." Toph said. "No way I'm letting the Fire Nation get their hands on this place."

"That won't happen." Zuko said and gave everyone a look in turn. "I'll make sure of it."

"Darn right it won't!" Sokka shouted.

"Good! This is cause for one last celebration dinner." Chunhua said. "What do you say?"

Everyone turned to look at Sokka.

"What? I say let's eat!"

Katara smirked. Funny how Sokka could always find time to amend their schedule to feed his empty stomach.

Chunhua prepared roast duck for dinner. Everyone helped in the kitchen in some way. It was loud and noisy. Every time that Katara turned around she was bumping into someone. Momo tried to steal whatever food was within his reach. Aang had formed an aqua arm and kept tickling Toph with it. Toph it seemed had no defense against this type of attack. Ticklishness was her weakness.

Katara's weakness was standing right beside her. Every time she bumped into Zuko and their skin made contact she got goosebumps. Her mind would turn to mush when she caught him looking at her, and when she tried to speak it felt like she might swallow her tongue. The longer they went without talking about their feelings the more the anticipation between them seem to grow.

When dinner was finally finished everyone picked up a dish and carried it outside and sat around the stone table Toph had earthbent.

Chunhua perfectly seasoned the duck with herbs that Katara didn't even know existed. The leaves she roasted the duck in kept it tender and juicy. It had been a long while since someone had prepared their gang a dinner with this much love.

"My compliments to the chef." Aang said. Chunhua had made him stuffed mushrooms. The mushrooms were almost as big as Aang's head.

"Here! Here!" Sokka cried.

"I'd like to make a toast."

At once everyone stopped talking and all eyes focused on Chunhua.

Chunhua rose from her chair and raised her glass and the others followed suit. "To six of the bravest young warriors I have ever met, and believe me that's saying something, here's to a swift end of the war and a return to peace and unity."

"To peace and unity!" Everyone cried out.

Katara turned and clinked her glass against Zuko's. What would happen to the two of them after the war? Zuko would still be Prince of the Fire Nation unless Aang lost, but she couldn't allow herself to think that way. Aang was going to defeat Ozai and win this war. He had come too far, they all had come too far not to.

"Katara." Chunhua called out.

"Wha-yes?"

"Would you mind coming with me for a while? I have some herbology books I'd like to give you."

"I would love to."

Katara followed Chunhua into the room that Toph had been staying in.

"First of all I want to give you this." Chunhua said and handed her the blue dress she had worn when she and Zuko had gone for a walk around the dormitory. "And this." She gave her a blue silk bag.

Katara opened the bag and looked inside. It contained the shoes and the fancy combs that went with the dress.

"As much as I love that dress I wouldn't feel right taking it." Katara said. "It belong to someone else."

"It used to belong to someone else." Chunhua corrected. "Trust me when I say they belong to you now."

Katara looked down at the dress and remembered how beautiful she felt wearing it and how Zuko had looked at her. Chunhua was right the dress did belong to her now. Whoever had it before wasn't coming back for it.

"Thank you so much. For everything."

"You're welcome my little riverlily." Chunhua said and pulled her in for a hug.

"I'm going to miss you so much. When the war is over I'll come back and visit you, and I'll bring my Gran-gran too. I think you'll like her."

"If she's anything like you I know I will. You're a very special girl, do you know that?" Chunhua asked.

"Yes. I do."

"Good. Don't let that Prince of yours ever forget it."

Katara smiled. "I won't."

In order to reach Taku while it was still daylight the gang had to leave shortly after dinner. Katara went to her room to pack her things.

"Need any help?" Zuko asked from her doorway.

She turned around and looked at him. "No, but thanks for asking."

"Are you doing OK?" He asked. They hadn't had a chance to talk about what had happened between her and Yon Rha.

She shook her head and hugged herself. "I'm getting there. Thanks for understanding what I needed."

"I'm just happy I was able to help you."

"So am I."

Zuko stepped further into her room and helped her tie up a bag she'd been struggling with. "Do you-." Zuko stopped took a deep breath and then started again. "When we were on that trip did you-."

"Whatever it is you have to tell me Zuko, just tell me." Katara said and took his hand.

"Katara! Zuko!" Suki cried out. "Where are you?"

Suki appeared in Katara's doorway a few seconds later.

Katara dropped Zuko's hand, but Suki saw them anyway and made an Is that right face.

"What did you want?" Zuko asked irritably.

"Sokka's getting really impatient. He says we've already wasted enough time and if you two don't hurry up he's leaving without you."

"That's ridiculous he doesn't even know where my beach house is." Zuko said.

Suki shrugged. "Let's just go before that vein in his forehead explodes."

Chunhua packed a case of medicines for the gang to take with them to the beach house. She also mixed up some extar serum for Zuko just in case he should have a relapse. Katara prayed to Yue that he wouldn't. She couldn't stand to see Zuko in that amount of pain again.

"Take care of each other." Chunhua said. "I expect to see all of you again after the war." She gave everyone in their group a hug and a kiss on the cheek. While the others were scrambling onto Appa's saddle she and Zuko stayed behind.

"Take care of yourself and Miyuki." Katara said and gave Chunhua one last long hug.

"Thank you for everything you've done for me. I owe you a debt of gratitude." Zuko said. "My mother was a master herberlist as well, and she would have absolutely loved seeing everything you've accomplished. I won't forget Taku. You have my word as the Fire Prince."

"I know you won't Prince Zuko." Chunhua said and hugged him one last time. Her eyes twinkled with mischief as she looked over at Katara. "You two look after one another, and don't take too long before you ask Katara out or another fellow will."

Katara blushed to the roots of her hair. She was relieved the others weren't close enough to hear as Chunhua had no filter.

"Aaah." Zuko said and shuffled his feet in the dirt.

As Appa ascended into the sky the gang waved and called out to Chunhua until they couldn't see her any more. Everyone was quiet as they flew to Ember Island. The count down was on. Sozin's comet was only five days away. A war that had waged on for over one hundred years would finally be over in less than five days. It seemed impossible.

"There it is!" Zuko called out suddenly. "My family's beach house."

"Wow, that's some beach house." Aang said. That's some beach."

Zuko landed Appa by the dock.

The gang scrambled down to the ground.

"It's so beautiful here." Katara said. "It's been so long since I've been surrounded by this much water."

"We should build a fire and grill out on the beach for dinner." Sokka said.

"How can you be thinking about dinner when you just ate?" Suki asked.

Sokka shrugged.

"Well someone will need to go into town for supplies. There isn't any food in the house." Zuko informed him.

"I'll go." Sokka volunteered.

"I'll come with." Suki said.

"I'll stay on the beach and practice my sandbending." Top said.

"Me too!" Aang cried.

"Fine. I'll show Katara around the rest of the beach." Zuko said, but Aang and Toph had already stopped paying attention and started bending sand.

Katara followed Zuko along the shore. She loved the smell of the sea air. Next to the smell of snow it was her favorite smell in the world. The sounds of the waves lapping at the shore were like a lullaby. It wasn't uncommon for Water Tribe mother's to take their babies for canoe rides to put them to sleep. Katara's mother had often done this with her. The pushing and pulling of the waves made her think of the first waterbenders who learned to do it themselves. What power they must have felt when they learned they could bend one of the elements at their will. Katara began to push and pull the water and then she got creative and started bending the water into shapes.

Zuko watched her as she bent the water into a shape of a hawk. She made the hawk fly around in circles before diving into the ocean and then reappearing as a dolphin jumping through the waves. She bent the dolphin into a rabaroo and made it hop playfully around Zuko's feet before bending the water back into the ocean.

"That's amazing." Zuko said.

"I've come a long way. When I first started I didn't even know what I didn't know about waterbending."

"You'd never know it now." Zuko said.

Katara smirked and bumped Zuko's shoulder with her own. "Thanks for helping me grow more proficient."

Zuko groaned. "Don't remind me of how stupid I was. Remember when I took you on during a full moon?" He shook his head. "You knocked me out cold."

"Pay back for knocking me out first."

"Ugh! I was awful wasn't I? I'm sorry."

"Zuko, stop apologizing, besides you aren't even the Water Tribe's biggest enemy. That would be Zhao. He killed the moon spirit. That is an unforgivable act to my people." Katara reminded him.

"Well if it's any consolation to your people I think he's in the fog of lost souls."

Katara stopped walking. "What?"

"During the siege of the North I confronted Zhao. I told him I knew he tried to kill me by blowing up my ship."

"Zhao tried to have you killed?" Katara's mouth dropped. "But why?"

"He thought I'd capture Aang before he did." Zuko explained. "We were fighting each other when Aang, or rather Aang's Avatar spirit grabbed Zhao and pulled him into the water. I tried to save him but he refused to take my hand. He went under and I never saw him again."

"So maybe he just drown?" Katara suggested and started walking again.

"I don't think so. When I was sick with the spirit fever I saw him."

"Zhao?"

"Yes. He was surrounded by some kind of mist. I think maybe he was lost in the mist because all he was doing was walking around in circles and rambling on and on about being the moon conqueror. It was like he was going insane. There was something about that mist."

Katara shivered. "It was the fog of lost souls. Chunhua told me it infects your mind and traps you in your darkest memories."

Zuko's mouth dropped. "I didn't even like the guy, but I would never wish something like that on him. I guess I didn't have to. In the end he brought his destiny upon himself. The Spirits justice isn't the same as our justice. Spirits seek justice on a global scale. The Spirit World will always seek out to balance the imbalances we cause within the world."

"That sounds like something your uncle would say." Katara said.

Zuko smiled. "Thanks. There was a little part of me that was hoping my uncle would be here, but I know him too well. He wouldn't be here hiding when he could be out there fighting."

"We're not hiding Zuko, we're preparing. You're preparing Aang to become a firebending master. It's not the same as doing nothing."

"Mind reader." Zuko teased.

"Madame Wu must have rubbed off on me."

"Madame who?"

"Nevermind." Katara said. "Let's go back."

Her brother and Suki were just getting back from their shopping trip as she and Zuko stepped into the courtyard.

"You guys are not going to believe this." Sokka announced. He walked up to the group holding a scroll. "There's a play about us."

"We found this poster in town." Suki explained.

Sokka rolled the scroll down so that everyone could see. There was Zuko's eyes in the background of the poster and She, Sokka, and Aang taking up heroic stances in the foreground. They actors who were meant to portray them were at least ten years too old.

"What?" Katara asked. "How is that possible?"

"Listen to this." Sokka said and began reading the poster out loud to everyone. "The Boy in the Iceberg is a new production from acclaimed playwright Pu On Tim who scoured the globe gathering information on the Avatar from the icy South Pole to the heart of Ba Sing Se. His sources including singing nomads, pirates, prisoners of war and a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage."

Suki read the last bit of script. "Brought to you by the critically acclaimed Ember Island Players."

"Ugh." Zuko groaned. "My Mother used to take us to see them. They butchered Love Amongst The Dragons every year."

"I love that book!" Katara exclaimed. "I didn't know there was a play!" Everyone turned to look at her. "Whatever." She huffed.

"Sokka, do you really think it's a good idea for us to attend a play about ourselves?" Aang asked.

"Come on, a day at the theater? This is the kind of wacky time wasting nonsense I've been missing."

"Can't argue with that." Toph said.

"So it's settled dinner and a play." Sokka said. "Now help us get the supplies inside."

Zuko lead them inside of the beach house.

"Wow Zuko, this place is amazing ." Suki said.

It was. The house was a lot bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside which was impressive in and of itself. You could strain your neck trying to see the ceiling. From the ornate wood scroll work on the doors to the huge glass windows Katara could tell that no expense had been spared when building this place, but then again why should it? It was the Fire Lord's beach house.

Zuko quickly took them through the house into the kitchen so Katara didn't have much time to look around at the other rooms. Just like the rest of the house the kitchen was huge. There were enough pots and pans hanging on the wall to feed an entire army, but there was an inch worth of dust all over them. Not just the pots and pans, but counters and the floors.

Toph sneezed three times in a row. "Smells dusty in here."

"That's because it is dusty in here." Katara said. "We'll need to clean this whole place up."

"Clean?" Sokka moaned. "The whole point of grilling out on the beach is so that we don't have to clean."

"If we're going to be staying here then we should clean the place up." Katara snapped at her brother.

"What's the point of being the Fire Prince if you have to clean up after yourself?" Sokka asked Zuko.

"If we all pitch in it won't take that long Sokka, for now let's just clean the kitchen and then get these supplies put away and start dinner." Katara ordered.

"Besides no one is supposed to know we're here remember, and I haven't had servants to wait on me in years."

Suki opened all the windows and Aang airbent all of dust out of the kitchen.

Zuko heated a huge pot full of water for Katara and she used her waterbending to clean the floors and counter tops.

Once everything was clean Sokka began seasoning the chicken he'd picked up in town.

"Do you think this play will be any good?" Suki asked no one in particular.

"It's about us so it has to be good." Sokka reasoned.

"I wonder who they got to play me?" Katara pondered out loud. "Whoever it is I hope she's pretty."

"Whoever they picked to play me had better be strong." Toph said.

"I don't care who they picked to play me." Zuko groused. "I think this whole play sounds stupid."

"Are you kidding me?" Sokka asked. "This is the greatest thing ever, how many people can say they have a play written about them?"

"Not many." Aang admitted.

"I'm going to go find some firewood. Katara would you mind helping me?" Zuko asked.

"Not at all." She said. She didn't even bother to look back at Suki who she knew had some kind of knowing look on her face. Sooner or later she would have to tell Suki what she already knew.

"There's a copse of trees just a few feet from here. We should be able to collect enough wood for the fire there."

Katara nodded. She and Zuko were both walking slowly to prolong their time together. He took her hand in his and swung their arms back and forth. It felt so right holding Zuko's hand. Being near him made her feel a peace that she hadn't felt in a long time. Zuko made her feel like she didn't have to hold everything down. He made her feel reciprocated.

"Oh look a turtle crab!" Katara called out. She pointed to a spot a few yards in front of her. "The poor little thing stuck on it's back."

Zuko bent down next to the turtle crab and flipped it over. "Go on." He said and gave it a gentle nudge with his hands. The turtle crab obliged him and began making its way towards the sea.

"I've always liked turtle crabs." Zuko told her. "When I was younger I tried to save one from a hawk. I wasn't a very good savior though, because when I saw the hawk looking at me all hungry I felt bad. I didn't know what to do and stood there holding the turtle crab trying to figure what to do until we both got swept out to sea."

"Oh, no! What happened?"

"My dad eventually saved me, and I spent the rest of the day puking up sea water."

"I'm sorry if staying here brings back bad memories for you."

"They're not all bad. My uncle taught me how to swim here. He taught me how to cliff dive." Zuko smiled. "It was from the highest cliff on this beach, and I did it before Azula worked up the courage to do it herself. Something she'd rather die than admit."

They reached the copse of trees. There was pieces of wood lying all over. Katara bent down and picked up as much wood as she could carry.

"It's hard to think of Azula as a child. I still have a hard time believing we're the same age."

"If my sister had been a late bloomer like me she'd probably be better off." Zuko admitted.

"Do you miss her?"

"I actually do. I wish my father and grandfather hadn't of had such a strong influence on her. She never really got a childhood. Once they found out she was a prodigy they turned her into a child soldier."

Katara didn't say anything. She didn't have to the look on her face said it all. She could never ever forgive his sister for what she did. Zuko wasn't the one who had to bring Aang back to life. She was thankful for her bending and thankful for the water from the spirit oasis if not for those two factors Aang would be dead, and the Fire Nation would be free to conquer the world.

"I can't blame you for making that face." Zuko said. "All Azula is to you is an enemy like I once was. You've never seen the other side of her the way I have. My sister can be funny, considerate, and even silly at times. I just keep wondering what will become of her once the war ends."

"When Aang defeats your father and ends the war he'll show Azula the mercy that she didn't show him."

"That might not be enough. My country has shed so much blood people will want one of the royal family members to pay the price. I could lose my whole family in this war. They're awful I know, but they're still my family."

"We're your family too." Katara said. "A family isn't just something you're born into."

"I've been living on my own since I was thirteen-years-old. I guess I've forgotten what being part of a family feels like."

"Thirteen?"

"I had my uncle with me so I wasn't truly alone."

"Still thirteen, why did you leave the Palace?"

"It wasn't my choice to leave." Zuko said.

"Oh." Katara noticed at once how his whole demeanor changed. His eyes became clouded over and he drew his eyebrows together. He seemed to have shriveled into himself making his clothes look bigger on him then they actually were. She didn't want to pry if this was something that Zuko wasn't willing to talk about, but she couldn't imagine the reason for him being forced to leave his home at age thirteen.

Zuko's eyes suddenly cleared like storm clouds dissipating from a stormy sky. "This should be enough firewood. Let's go back now." He sounded as if he were using someone else's voice to speak. Katara followed Zuko back to the beach house. His chi was off. Katara could feel it. Curing him of his spirit fever seemed to have made her more attuned to his chi. They found a spot on the beach for the bonfire and Zuko arranged the firewood they collected. Once they walked back into the house they would have to act as if they had no feelings for each other. Katara wondered how she was going to do that when every time she looked at Zuko all she did was feel for him.

"What took you two so long?" Aang asked as soon as Zuko stepped through the door with Katara by his side. His voice had an accusatory tone.

"Were we long? Didn't seem like it to me." Zuko lied smoothly.

"Or maybe you just got distracted by all that water." Suki said.

Zuko glared at her but she only smirked.

"I'm going to go start the bonfire. Come on Aang you can get in a little firebending practice."

Aang followed him out onto the beach.

"I know you're still having a lot of trouble firebending, so I want you to think of it as airbending for awhile. In firebending the power comes from the breath just like in air bending. Remember it's not anger it's energy."

"Actually the power in airbending comes from your core." Aang corrected.

"Whatever, you still need good breath control, right?"

"Right."

"Good, then I want you to breathe fire on to those logs, but instead of thinking of it as bending out a flame, think of it as bending out a breath of air."

Aang nodded, took a deep breath, and let go with a burst of flame from his mouth. The wood ignited immediately.

"Good job! You're going to give my uncle a run for his money."

"I'm getting it now." Aang cried. "Thanks Zuko!"

"That's what I'm here for." He said and clapped him on the back. Aang was like a little brother to him and he felt awful about falling for Katara, knowing that Aang had feelings for her, but the crush was only on Aang's part, unlike what he and Katara felt for each other. He hoped that their friendship wouldn't be ruined over this. Aang was one of the few friends he had and he would never do anything to intentionally hurt him.

Sokka stepped out on to the beach with a platter of chicken. Suki walked beside him carrying some potatoes for roasting.

"Are you going to make some tea?" Toph wanted to know.

"Of course." Zuko said and got busy making tea. He liked having a talent to offer to the group that was uniquely his and had nothing to do with his firebending.

"I think we should leave for the play a little early." Suki said. "We don't want to draw attention to ourselves by showing up late."

"Good thinking." Sokka said and kissed her on the cheek.

Zuko handed out cups of tea to everyone. He gave Katara her cup first and she winked at him.

Minutes later Sokka was pulling the chicken and Aang's roasted vegetables off the grill. Everyone found a spot close to the bonfire and sat down and started eating. The food was delicious. When he actually cared to do it Sokka was a good cook.

Katara sat down next to him and he pretended to be so into his food that he didn't even notice her, but he did. Even without looking at her he remembered all the small details about her. Like the way she always smelled like riverlilies. The way she touched her mother's necklace whenever she was feeling vulnerable or hopeful. He thought about the way her eyes lit up when ever she saw water, and how when she looked at him her eyes lit up in the same way.

"Barring any sudden monster, Fire Nation, or Spirit attacks this has been a pretty good day." Sokka said.

Zuko had to agree. Even though they had to leave Chunhua and Taku behind it had been a good day. He had plenty more good days than bad since joining team Avatar. For most of his life he had never had friends so he never knew what having friends was like. He had often dreamed of having friends, especially those first few lonely nightmarish days when he'd been banished from the Fire Nation. The reality of his friendship with team Avatar was even better than what he dreamed it could have been when he lie awake at night unable to sleep because the pain from his scar was still too fresh.

"Where is everyone going to sleep?" Aang asked.

"I want to sleep out on the beach." Toph said. "I'm finally starting to get a feel for sand."

"If the play is a snoozer we'll probably get plenty of sleep at the theater." Sokka said.

"I never gave you the tour did I." Zuko said and stood up. "If we go now we can squeeze in a quick tour before the play, and I'll show everyone where you'll be sleeping."As He walked through the entrance hall and climbed the stairs to the grand foyer he stared for a moment at the lighter colored spot on the wall of where a portrait of his family used to hang. That is until he'd taken it out on the beach and burned it. He could never get that picture back now or the evidence that his family had once been happy here.

"Are you OK?" Katara asked softly.

Zuko snapped back to reality after realizing that he'd been staring at the blank spot on the wall for quite sometime. "I'm fine." He began to walk quickly down the hall.

Each room Zuko showed to the others brought back a memory. The playroom reminded him of when he and his sister used to act out scenes from Love Amongst the Dragons. He could hear his young self in the music room practicing the tsungi horn. Then there was the ballroom that was supposed to be off limits to him and Azula, but of course his sister always went into the ballroom anyway and mocked him for being too much of a pig chicken to go with her. Two of his favorite rooms in all of the beach house were the main kitchen and the scullery. Whenever their family would entertain dignitaries his mother would hire local women from the village, mostly grandmothers, to come cook.

Zuko had always liked to hang around and watch the women prepare a feast for a ball he was forbidden to attend. The grandmothers who cooked for his family would all was slip him fancy little hors d'oeuvres and make a fuss over him. Azula had no interest in dull house work so that also meant he was free from her torment.

"How many rooms does this house have?" Aang asked as they left the games room.

"A lot."

"Do we really need to see them all? You showed us the kitchen and we've already seen it!" Sokka shouted.

"Why don't you just show us where we'll be sleeping." Suki suggested. "Whatever we haven't seen today you can show us tomorrow."

"OK, fine with me." Zuko said. He was sick of the trip down memory lane anyway. "We can all sleep in the upstairs solar."

The bedrooms for the guest were on the second floor and on the opposite end of the family's solar, which held their bedrooms, a small office, and a drawing room, but his friends were his family and Zuko decided that they should all stay on the same floor. Besides his grandparents and parents suites there was a suite for, Azula, his uncle, and Lu ten, and of course he had his very own suite. Plus two extra for visiting dignitaries of the highest status.

Those two suites had mostly gone to waste as no foreign dignitaries ever visited and his father didn't consider any one within the Fire Nation worthy of sleeping in the same quarters as the royal family.

"This is fancy. Like upper ring fancy schmancy." Sokka noted as he looked around the solar.

"This is beyond upper ring fancy schmancy." Toph countered. "This is Earth King fancy schmancy." She ran her hands along the walls feeling the wooden scroll work. "This is a house of royalty."

"Right." Zuko said. It made him uncomfortable when he heard others talk about his wealth. "Why don't I take all of you to your rooms and we can all finally start getting ready for this play." He gave Sokka and Aang the bedrooms furthest away from his. He put Toph and Suki in the middle and gave Katara the room directly across the hall from him. He wouldn't be able to sleep very well knowing that she was only a doorway away from him, but at least he would be near her.

Katara looked around her room. She had a huge wardrobe and when she opened it up she found it was filled with women's clothing of all sizes. She touched the expensive fabrics of silk, cashmere, and linen. She couldn't imagine living a life where she could afford to have clothes so expensive only to leave them lying around. As she rifled through the shoes at the bottom of her wardrobe there was a knock at the door. Katara checked herself in the mirror and quickly brushed her hair. She smoothed down her dress if it was Zuko she didn't want him to see her looking a mess even though he'd seen her looking far worse.

"Come in."

"So what are you going to wear to the play?" Suki asked Katara.

She relaxed, It wasn't him after all. The stress of sleeping across the hall from Zuko was going to be her undoing.

"Nothing too fancy. I don't want to draw too much attention to myself."

"Yeah, but you at least want to draw Zuko's attention, right?"

"You're like a wolfbat with a bone, you know that?"

"Yes. Yes I do." Suki admitted shamelessly.

Katara could only laugh. "This is a beautiful room isn't it?"

"Fine, fine, change the subject." Suki said loftily and waved her hand back and forth in the air. "Really though, how are you holding up?"

"I just want the war to be over."

"Me too. It would be nice to go back home. I haven't seen my father in so long."

Katara hugged Suki. "I'm sorry. I forget that you haven't been home in awhile."

"Even when I go back to Kyoshi I don't know if I'll be able to relax. When the war ends it doesn't mean that people won't stop fighting."

"I know." Katara said. "There will be people out there that will always hate Aang and love Ozai."

"On the bright side I'd rather deal with fighting than deal with a war."

"Me too, but it doesn't mean I'm not looking forward to some down time."

"This is down time right now so I guess we should enjoy it." Suki said. "I'm going to go change."

Katara wore her usual fire nation clothes, but freshened them up by soaking them in a tub of water she liberally added riverlily petals to, and then bent out the excess water. She hung her outfit on the back of her door and went to checkout the bathroom.

The walls were stark white with black wood trim and the tiles on the floor were ruby red. The tub was by far the biggest tub that Katara had ever seen. Appa could have almost gone swimming in it. She filled the tub with water than sank down low in to the bubbles. She took longer in the bath than she probably should have, but she couldn't help herself. A huge fluffy robe hung on the back of the door. She could tell that it had never been used. She wrapped herself up in the robe and it felt like being hugged by a koala bear sheep. Katara crossed back into the bedroom and sat down at the vanity and began to brush her hair with the pearl backed brush that sat on the dresser. Like the robe it hadn't been used. From the looks of things nothing in this room had ever been used. This was a family beach home so that probably meant there weren't many outside visitors.

The group opted to fly half way to the theater and walk the other half. They left Appa with Momo so that he wouldn't be lonely. The field they were in had plenty of grass and fruit trees so they'd also be able to get their own food.

Sokka brought the tickets from the box office and their little group headed inside.

"Where are we going to sit?" Aang asked.

"Let's sit in the mezzanine." Suki suggested.

No, the balcony." Zuko said and without waiting for anyone else started up the stairs.

The balcony turned out to be the perfect place as they were able to get a box to themselves. Aang started to sit next to her but Zuko sat down beside her first.

"Hey, uh, I wanted to sit there." Aang said.

"Just sit next to me, what's the big deal?" Zuko asked.

Katara nervously ran her fingers through her hair. She hoped Aang wasn't going to make a big deal about their seating arrangements.

"I was just, I wanted to...Okay." Aang conceded and sat down.

"Why are we sitting in the nose bleed section?" Toph groaned. "My feet can't see a thing from up here."

"Don't worry, I'll tell your feet what's happening." Katara reassured her.

The lights went down and the curtain lifted. This was it! On stage there was a huge backdrop of the icy South Pole landscape. The actors who portrayed her (Katara could only wish she had the actress's figure) and her bother were rowing their canoe across a fake sea.

Katara felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around. Sokka enthusiastically pointed between himself and her. She smiled at her brother. It was a surreal feeling.

"Sokka, my only brother. We constantly roam these icy South Pole seas and yet never do we find anything fulfilling." The actress bemoaned from the stage.

"All I want is a full feeling in my stomach, I'm starving!" Actor Sokka quipped.

The audience roared with laughter, but Katara and Sokka could only look at each other in stunned disbelief. This was supposed to be an accurate portrayal of them?

"Is food the only thing on your mind?" Actress Katara questioned.

"Well, I'm trying to get it out of my mind and into my mouth. I'm starving." Sokka's actor replied.

"This is pathetic. My jokes are way funnier than this. " The real Sokka grumbled.

She would have to beg to differ, but at this time the point seemed moot.

"I think he's got you pegged." Toph said and laughed. She would.

"Everyday, the World awaits a beacon to guide us, yet none appears. Still, we cannot give up hope." The overacting Katara cried from the stage. "For hope is all we have and we must never relinquish it. Even to our dying breath."

''Well that's just silly." Katara snapped annoyed that everyone around her was laughing, well not Zuko, but he did have a smirk on his face. "I don't sound like that." The play was already starting to frustrate her and it had only just began.

"Oh man, this writer's a genius." Toph said in between belly laughs.

On stage there was a makeshift iceberg with a crude cutout of Aang swaying back and forth.

"It appears to be someone frozen in ice. Perhaps for a hundred years." Actress Katara called out.

"But who? Who is the boy in the iceberg?" Actor Sokka asked.

"Waterbend, hai-ya!"

Katara couldn't believe it. Couldn't they have at least picked an actress that knew something about waterbending. The fact that anyone would even think that you could bend someone out of a solid block of ice with a simple chopping motion made Katara want to go up on the stage and show the actress what waterbending actually was. Instead she watched as Aang leapt out of the ice. It wasn't a boy or even a man playing Aang, it was a bald headed woman, as far as casting jobs went Katara had no problem with this, Aang on the other hand was livid.

"Wait, is that a woman playing me?" He asked indignantly.

"An airbender. My heart is so full of hope that it's making me tearbend." Katara couldn't see what Aang was so upset about. If anyone had the right to be upset it was her. The actress playing her had turned her into a caricature of herself. Did Pu-on Tim really think she would have gotten as far as she did if all she ever did was cry?

"My stomach is so empty that it's making me tearbend." Actor Sokka cried out. "I need meat."

"But wait." The actress playing Aang said and put her arms around actor Sokka's shoulder. "Is that a platter of meaty dumplings?

"Ooo. Where? Where?" Sokka's actor asked.

"Did I mention that I'm an incurable prankster? "Aang's actress asked.

"I don't do that. That's not what I'm like! And I'm not a woman!" Aang snapped.

"Oh, they nailed you, Twinkle Toes." Toph said.

The scenery on the stage changed. The South Pole backdrop was still up, but this time it was Zuko's ship that was sailing the icy seas.

"Prince Zuko, you must try this cake." The actor playing Zuko's uncle Iroh said.

"I don't have time to stuff my face. I must capture the Avatar to regain my honor!" The actor on the stage had a mask on his face to resemble Zuko's scar, but Pu-on Tim must have never seen Zuko before because the scar was on the wrong side, but at least they'd gotten his attitude right.

"Well, while you do that, maybe I'll capture another slice." Actor Iroh joked.

"You sicken me." Actor Zuko snarled.

"They make me totally stiff and humorless." Zuko complained.

Katara gave Zuko an amused look. "Actually, I think that actor's pretty spot on." He might not have remembered what he was like a few short weeks ago, but she did.

"How could you say that?"

"Let's forget about the Avatar and get massages." Actor Iroh said.

"How could you say that?!" Zuko's actor shouted.

Katara gave Zuko a knowing smile and he slumped down into his seat. Wasn't much to smirk about when the shoe was on the other foot.

The play didn't get any better as time when on. It was like a nightmare that she couldn't wake up from. She had felt so embarrassed when the part about Jet had come up that she couldn't even look at Zuko. She was elated when the first act ended.

The group left their seats and congregated in the balcony's stairwell.

"So far, this intermission is the best part of the play." Zuko said.

"Apparently, the playwright thinks I'm an idiot who tells bad jokes about meat all the time." Sokka told everyone. He had just come back for the concession stand and was eating a bag of some kind of fried meat strips.

"Yeah, you tell bad jokes about plenty of other topics."

"I know!" Sokka said and then took an angry bite of his meat strip. A second later the expression on his face changed when he realized that Suki had insulted him.

"At least this Sokka actor kinda looks like you. That woman playing the Avatar doesn't resemble me at all."

"I don't know, you are more in touch with your feminine side than most guys." Toph teased.

Aang stood up off of the steps and made a growling noise at Toph.

"Relax, Aang. They're not accurate portrayals. It's not like I'm a preachy crybaby who can't resist giving overemotional speeches about hope all the time." She rationalized.

The others just stared at her as if she had just said water wasn't wet while splashing around in a tub full of water.

"What?" She hated feeling put on the spot.

"Yeah." Aang said sarcastically as he sat down. "That's not you at all."

"Listen, friends. It's obvious that the playwright did his research. I know it must hurt but what you're seeing up there on that stage is the truth."

The more Toph talked the more Katara was looking forward to the playwright's portrayal of her. See how she dealt with being on the receiving end of a complete and total strangers perception of her.

When the intermission ended Katara was disappointed. It meant more of the play. She found her seat and braced herself for the second act.

The second act of the play opened up with Katara, Sokka, and Aang all in the Earth Kingdom. They stood behind a backdrop of Earth Kingdom houses. Beside them was a huge prop rock.

"Well, here we are in the Earth Kingdom." Actress Katara announced.

"I better have a look around to see if I can find an earthbending teacher." Aang's actress said. She opened up a prop glider, that was clearly too small to ever work as a real glider, and soared around the theater by a rope that had been attached to her back by a hook.

Zuko quickly held the program in front of his face as the actress flew past their seats.

"This is it! This must be where I come in." Toph announced.

"I flew all over town but I couldn't find a single earthbending master"

"Here it comes." Toph said. She was fit to burst with excitement.

A trapdoor underneath the prop rock rose up and a huge man dressed like Toph appeared.

"You can't find an earthbending master in the sky, you have to look underground." Toph's actor said.

Everyone, except Toph, started laughing when they saw who had been cast to play her. Zuko was so shocked that he dropped the program that he'd been using to shield his face moments before.

"Who are you?" Aang's actress asked.

"My name is Toph because it sounds like tough." Actor Toph replied and flexed his muscles. "And that's just what I am."

"Wait a minute, I sound like a guy. A really buff guy." Toph said. She used her pinkie finger to clean out her ear just in case she might not have heard what she thought she heard.

"Well Toph, what you hear up there is the truth. It hurts, doesn't it?" Katara said . She was glad the shoe was finally on the other foot. Now maybe Toph would see why everyone was so upset.

"Are you kidding me? I wouldn't have cast it any other way. At least it's not a flying bald lady."

She should have known that Toph wouldn't have a problem with the way she was cast. Toph had enough self-confidence for the whole group. From that point on Katara mostly tuned out the play. She wished that she had brought Love Amongst the Dragons with her to read, but of course she hadn't known the whole play was going to be as awful as it was. Instead she went over the ten major healing plants and their curative properties in her brain.

"I have to admit, Prince Zuko. I really find you attractive." Actress Katara said from the stage.

Suddenly Katara was paying attention. She looked up at the stage and saw that the backdrop was now of the crystal catacombs. What she wanted to know was where was the playwright getting this information? The only two people who'd been in the crystal catacombs at the time where her and Zuko. The others in her group knew she tried to heal Zuko, but they didn't know the details. She hadn't told them how Zuko had let her touch the scar and how that was the first time she'd been able to see him as something other than her enemy.

"You don't have to make fun of me." Actor Zuko said gruffly.

"But I mean it. I had eyes for you since the day you first captured me."

Katara exchanged an uncomfortable look with Zuko. She felt as if every single pair of eyes in the theater were looking at her.

"Wait. I thought you were the Avatar's girl."

"The Avatar? Why, he's like a little brother to me. I certainly don't think of him in a romantic way. Besides, how could he ever find out about this?"

The two actors held each others hands and embraced.

When the truth stared you unblinkingly in the face the only thing you could do was look back. Someone somewhere out there had guessed the truth about her and Zuko before they had.

This was apparently too much for Aang. He got up out of his seat and stomped out of the balcony.

Katara watched him go but didn't get up to follow him.

"Well, my brother. What's it going to be? Your nation or a life of treachery? " Actress Azula rhymed from on stage.

"Choose treachery, it's more fun." Actor Iroh suggested.

Zuko's actor walked over to his uncle seemingly to joining his side.

"No way!" Actress Azula shouted.

Zuko's actor shoved his uncle to the ground causing him to drop the bowl he'd been drinking out of. "I hate you, Uncle. You smell and I hate you for all time."

Katara covered her mouth with her hands as soon as the words left the actor's lips. There was no way he'd really said that to his uncle. Still this was Zuko she was talking about, he had once tied her to a tree so she could never be too sure. "You didn't really say that, did you?" She asked him.

Zuko was slumped across the railing of the balcony. "I might as well have."

Katara didn't know what to say. There were no words of comfort that she could give him that wouldn't ring hollow. Coming to see this play was one of the worst ideas that Sokka had in a long time. She didn't even know why they were staying til the end other than a morbid sense of curiosity.

One more act. Zuko couldn't believe they still had one more act of this poor excuse of a play to get through. If it wasn't for the others he would have left by now, but they all seemed bound and determined to see this colossal mistake through to the end. He slid down the walls of the theater's hallway and sat on the floor. He wished the others would hurry up and come back. He didn't have much to say to Toph, the only person to come away from this play so far unscathed.

"Wheeee." A little boy dressed as Aang cried and ran down the hallway.

Zuko watched him go and thought his parents were brave to let him run around dressed like that while living in the Fire Nation.

"Jeez. Everyone's getting so upset about their characters. Even you seem more down than usual and that's saying something." Toph said.

"You don't get it. It's different for you. You get a muscley version of yourself taking down ten bad guys at once and making sassy remarks."

"Yeah, that's pretty great" Toph admitted.

"But for me, it takes all the mistakes I've made in my life and shoves them back in my face." No one in the group had made bigger or worse mistakes than he had. Everyone else had great moments of them bravely fighting to stop the war. All he had was moments of him being selfish and angry. Who in their right mind would want to watch a three hour play about their greatest mistakes in life?

"My Uncle. He's always been on my side even when things were bad he was there for me. He taught me so much and how do I repay him? With a knife in his back. It's my greatest regret and I may never get to redeem myself. "

Toph sat down beside him. "You have redeemed yourself to your Uncle. You don't realize it but you already have."

"How do you know?"

"Because I once had a long conversation with the guy and all he would talk about was you."

Zuko lowered his hood. "Really?"

"Yeah, and it was kind of annoying."

"Oh, sorry."

"But it was also very sweet. All your Uncle wanted was for you to find your own path and see the light. Now you're here with us. He'd be proud. Toph said and punched him on the shoulder hard enough to bruise.

"Ow." Zuko cried out and rubbed his shoulder. "What was that for?"

"That's how I show affection."

That seemed right. Zuko thought.

The little boy in the Aang costume ran by again but this time stopped for a second and looked at him.

"Your Zuko costume is pretty good but your scar's on the wrong side." The little boy informed him.

"The scar is not on the wrong side!" Zuko shouted and pointed to his scar which was not on the wrong side of his face, and he ought to know because it was his face.

"Why don't you just tell the whole world who you are?" Toph said. She pulled him up off of the floor by his ear. "Come on Fire Pants its time for you to go back to the box."

Zuko was positively seething with rage by the time he got back to their box seats. No one else was there yet so that meant Sokka must have still been trying to get back stage and Katara must have still been looking for Aang. It had not escaped his attention the way that Aang had ran out of the play when the actor playing himself admitted his feelings to Katara. Nor had the put on the spot look on Katara's face escaped his attention. It was the look of someone caught dead to rights. It was clear that she had feelings for him. He vowed to tell her how he felt before then night was over. There was no where else to go once your heart had been exposed for all the world to see.

Katara had been worried about Aang ever since he'd abruptly left the play. No one else in the group seem to be too concerned about him, but she knew Aang well and something wasn't right with him, and so she spent the intermission looking for him. She had been looking for him a good twenty minutes when she finally found him on one of the theaters many outdoor balconies. His slumped over posture reminded her of Zuko's.

"Are you alright?" She asked him.

"I hate this play."

Don't we all Katara thought, but to Aang she said. "I know it's upsetting but it sounds like you're overreacting."

"Overreacting? If I hadn't blocked my chakra, I'd probably be in the Avatar State right now."

"Probably, but you don't know that for sure."

"Katara, did you really mean what you said in there?"

"In where? What are you talking about?" She was starting to get really worried about Aang. It seemed as if he was about to lose it. Poor little guy his stress level was probably through the roof.

"On stage. When you said I was just like a brother to you and you didn't have feelings for me."

"I didn't say that. An actor said that." She reminded him.

"But it's true, isn't it? I thought we were going to be together, but we're not."

"Aang, I'm sorry but right now we have other things to worry about. This isn't the right time."

"Well, when is the right time?" Aang snapped at her.

"When we're not in the middle of a war. Like I said this isn't the right time to be having this discussion."

Aang was starting to scare her. She didn't like the way he was acting so aggressively towards her. As if she were some how duty bound to answer his questions about her personal feelings. She closed her eyes and tugged nervously on her hair. All she could think about in this moment was Zuko. How did she tell Aang that she was falling for Zuko, and that even if the two of them didn't get together she still would never be the Avatar's girl. When she felt Aang's lips on hers her eyes flew open and she took a step back.

"I just said This isn't the right time. " She snapped. "I'm going inside." What in the world was wrong with Aang? What would possess him to kiss her against her will? What would lead him to think kissing her against her will would lead to any kind of feelings for him that weren't there before? She turned and ran back into the theater.

"Are you all right?" Zuko asked her as she sat down next to him panting.

"I'm O.K." She lied.

"Here's what you missed." Her brother said and began filling her in. "We went to the Fire Nation and Aang got better and you were the Painted Lady and I got a sword and I think Combustion Man died."

Katara was only half listening to her brother. She still couldn't believe what Aang had done. She'd never been so angry, hurt or felt so betrayed. She knew Aang was just a kid, but nothing gave him the right to kiss her without any kind of consent. Even if it was only a peck on the lips. The end of the play took her mind off Aang.

On stage the actor siblings Zuko and Azula were getting ready to fight.

"You are an enemy." Azula's actress yelled at her brother.

"I am the rightful heir to the throne!" Her brother countered.

The two actors began to fight. The fight was simulated by the actors hurling blue and red colored ribbons, meant to represent the color of the siblings bending flames, at each other while flipping around acrobatically. It wasn't a very long fight. Azula defeated Zuko in a wave of flames.

"Honor!" Zuko's actor screamed from behind a huge flame prop before dropping down through a trap door.

The fight between Aang and the Fire Lord was more dramatic but ended the same way, with the Fire Lord being victorious. Actress Aang ended up curled up in a flame like blanket slayed across the stage like wounded bird.

"The dreams of my father, and my father's father have now been realized. The World is mine." The actor playing the Fire Lord cried out theatrically. He was raised up on a podium that was situated behind a fake wall of flames. When the actor playing the Fire Lord threw up his hands in victory a Fire Nation Flag unfurled behind him.

It was all that Katara could do to keep from throwing up. All around her the audience stood on their feet and cheered. Katara couldn't believe that they were giving this play a standing ovation. How could this many people be so blindly devoted to such an awful human being? She jumped out of her seat. She had to get out of this theater. She quickly started down the steps and pushed past the throngs of people. That had been nothing but three hours of Fire Nation propaganda. How could someone from the Earth Kingdom write such tripe? How could he support the violent and ignorant ideologies that threatened to wipe him for the earth?

The others caught up with her in the lobby. No one spoke a word as they left the theater, but Katara could almost hear everyone's minds churning.

"That wasn't a good play." Zuko said finally.

"I'll say."

"No kidding."

"Horrible."

"You said it."

"But the effects were decent." Sokka said offering up a sliver of a silver lining.

"Why don't we all go to bed, and things will look better in the morning." Katara said.

"That's a good idea." Suki said backing her up. "A good night sleep in a nice soft bed is what we all need."

Everyone headed for their rooms, but Katara doubted anyone would be sleeping. Not after seeing that play. Or at least she knew that she wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon. Her mind was a maelstrom of emotions. All the memories of the past few hours were trapped inside of her brain where they whirled around and around in an endless circle. She sat up in her bed and sighed. There was no sense in trying to fall back asleep she had missed that window of opportunity and now she was up for the rest of the night. She sat on the edge of the bed and slid her feet into her slippers. There had to be some leftovers in the kitchen that she could devour while she sorted out her raw emotions. She opened her bedroom door and yelped.

Zuko stood on the other side with his hand raised in preparation to knock on her door.

"Couldn't sleep either?" Zuko asked sheepilshly as she stepped into the hallway.

"No."

"Do you want to go for a walk?" Zuko asked.

"Sure." Katara said hoping that her voice didn't sound as unnaturally high to Zuko as it did in her own ears. Suddenly she was aware that she was only wearing her nightgown and that she hadn't combed her hair. She started to surreptitiously smooth it down. "Just let me get changed."

"Oh, right." Zuko said. "I should probably go change too."

Katara got dressed as quickly as she could. She brushed her hair and her teeth and then met Zuko in the hall way.

"Follow me. I know how to avoid all the creaky floorboards."

Katara followed directly behind Zuko. Ozai was most definitely the type of father who'd smack and berate his son for making noise in the middle of the night. The fact that this was probably the reason that Zuko knew which floorboards to step on was another check mark on her list of reason for hating Ozai.

The beach was breathtakingly beautiful by the light of the full moon. Everything was illuminated and shimmered like millions upon millions of diamonds.

"Are you sure you're OK?" Zuko asked her. "You've seemed upset ever since the play, even more so than me. That must be some kind of record." Zuko joked.

Katara managed a weak smile.

"I didn't know you were the Painted Lady. It's amazing what you did for that village."

Katara didn't say anything.

"Or how you managed to lead Sokka, Toph, and Aang out of the desert. I couldn't have done that."

Katara still didn't speak.

"Soooo, you really like Love Amongst the Dragons?" Zuko asked.

Katara managed a real smile. The first one since her incident with Aang. Zuko was trying so hard to make her feel better even though he hadn't the slightest clue as to what was wrong with her. Even though comforting others came as naturally to him as eating vegetables came to her brother. She no longer wanted to think about the shock she felt when Aang kissed her. There was nothing she could do to change what had happened, and as angry as she was at Aang she had to remember that he was only a twelve year old boy. He was wise beyond his age, but that still didn't make him mature. All she could do now was sit him down and talk to him about consent.

"Yes. I can't believe I didn't know that there's a play about the book."

"Yeah, but it's awful. I told you the Ember Island players are hacks. You saw what they're like."

"I'd still like to go see the play after I finish the book." She admitted.

"I could take you if you wanted to." Zuko offered.

"What? Like on a date?" Katara asked.

Zuko suddenly stopped walking. "Would that be weird? I felt like things changed between us on that trip, am I wrong?"

"No, you're not."

"There is one thing that play got right. I've had feelings for you for awhile." Zuko confessed. "I tried fighting them, but they won't go away and I think that means that I'm not supposed to be fighting my feelings."

"I never thought you'd feel this way about me, Katara laughed, I never thought I'd feel this way about you."

Zuko laughed too. "So what do we do about these feelings?"

"Maybe we shouldn't do anything about them until after the war."

"You mean until after Aang's beaten my father." Zuko said.

"I mean Aang still needs to master firebending and if he knows we're together there's no way he'll be able to learn from you. Helping Aang defeat the Fire Lord is what we should be focusing our energies on."

Zuko sighed deeply. "You're right."

"I don't want to be right, but trust me I am. I don't like having to hide my feelings for you, but I just don't see any other way."

Zuko didn't speak a word. He only held his hand out for Katara and she took it. The moment their hands touched they both looked up into each others eyes. It was weird how the simple act of looking someone in the eyes changed when your feelings for them did. When she looked into his eyes it was like he was seeing all of her, but she was also seeing him see all of her, and she knew from the look in his eyes that he truly did want and desire her. All of her. The desire in his eyes made her feel undone, stripped, naked. Even before they had become lovers, even before they had become friends they had been exposed in front of each other. She and Zuko were both people who wore their hearts on their sleeves, and no matter how hard anyone else tried to, they couldn't stop them from acting on their deepest emotions.

Katara rested her head on Zuko's shoulder. He looked down at her and smiled. She sighed a contented sigh his warmth was like being wrapped up in a blanket. If she could have she would have walked along the beach with him forever.

"This is the spot were I learned to cliff dive." Zuko announced to Katara. He pointed up to a cliff that jutted out over to the sea below. "The water is a lot deeper here than anywhere else, so it's an amazing place to dive."

"Let's do it!"

"Do what?"

"Cliff dive, c'mon." Katara took off running towards the cliff kicking up sand behind her. She didn't turn around to see if Zuko was following her or not. She knew he would.

"I can't remember the last time I've done this." Zuko panted out behind her.

"Well after tonight you won't be able to say that." Katara said. She began to carefully climb up the rocky cliff. The higher up she climbed the more the adrenaline pumped in her veins. It felt a lot higher up than it looked, but the view alone was well worth it.

"It took my breath away the first time too."

Katara looked over the edge of the cliff and felt dizzy but didn't stop staring down. She like the dizzying feeling.

Zuko stepped beside her. "We'll jump at the same time."

She nodded and stepped out of her shoes and he followed suit.

He took her hand. "On three."

"One.

"Two."

"Three."

Katara closed her eyes, tightened her grip around Zuko's hand, and jumped. The wind danced around her swirling her hair and clothes around while she fell weightlessly through time and space. A second later the pair splashed down. The sound of the water rushed into her ears. After plummeting so swiftly from the cliff the fall into the water was like moving in slow motion. Katara drew them down to a sandbar and then she bent back the water forming an air bubble completely around them.

"This is amazing! I grew up on this beach but I've never seen it like this before." Zuko watched the sea life swimming all around them. He picked up a handful of sand and let it sift through his fingers.

"Much nicer than the time I did this at the serpent's pass."

"Oh yeah, what happened there?"

"A giant serpent crashed the party and almost drown Toph."

"Guess that's why it's the serpent's pass." Zuko said and laughed.

Katara laughed and then shivered.

"You OK?"

"Yes. The water was just a little colder than I expected."

"Can I warm you up?" Zuko said and rubbed his hands together.

"Yes, please."

Zuko held his hands up. "Is it O.K. if I er, umm, touch you?"

Katara was using her arms to bend back the water so if Zuko wanted to warm her up he was going to have to put his hands on her, but she didn't mind. "Go ahead."

"Is this O.K.?" He asked as he ran his hands up and down her sides.

"It's perfect." She said. A thousand little butterflies took flight from underneath her skin when he touched her. Heat radiated out from his hands and warmed her from the inside out like a hot cup of his tea.

"Warmer?" Zuko asked and reached up to brush her hair away from her face.

"Much warmer." She said and leaned in closer to Zuko. Her voice came out like a low note from a tsungi horn. She didn't know what had come over her, but that was a lie. It was Zuko. It was always Zuko. Kiss me! Katara thought. Just kiss me!

When he moved forward she knew he was going to kiss her. Automatically she closed her eyes and tilted her head. His lips on hers made her shiver. His kisses were soft and gentle they seemed to be in contrast with everything else about him. Still encased in their air bubble Katara bent them away from the sandbar and up towards the surface. She kissed him back as they slowly ascended. Her kisses were deeper and urgent. If it was possible for her to convey how much she didn't want to have to suppress her feelings for him through a kiss, she was going to try and do it.

Zuko's kisses began to match her urgency. When he kissed her behind her ear she felt as though she would melt on the spot. She didn't know which one was the more heady feeling, rising to the surface of the ocean or Zuko's kisses. As they broke the surface of the water Zuko kissed her again and she knew the feeling was all Zuko. When she pulled away from their kiss to look at Zuko his eyes were still half closed and his mouth was still open. He looked as drunk as she felt.

"It's going to be hard to top that kiss."

"Yeah but imagine all the fun we'll have trying." Katara said and started for the beach house. She only had to wait few seconds before Zuko followed after her.

 


	11. Like Father, Like Son, Like Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are greatly appreciated.

Zuko had fallen asleep with the happy memories of Katara's kiss still fresh in his mind. It had been the most amazing kiss that he'd ever had, not that he had many kisses, but even if he had, his first kiss with Katara would have topped them all. He still wasn't sure how he'd gotten a girl as amazing as her to be his girlfriend. She was beautiful, brave and kind. Her forgiveness felt like a reward that someone with a past as shameful as his didn't deserve.

For so much of his life he had been lonely. He'd always had a hard time communicating with people, yet he found it so easy to talk to Katara. Even when they had not been friends. Even when his words were knotted up inside of him and he struggled to unknot them to tell her what he meant she could figure what it was he was trying to say. The more surprising part to him was that he could figure Katara out. He could understand her and he could be on her level of communication. He never knew a relationship could feel or be so supportive. He couldn't believe that he was the other half of a happy and functional couple.

When Zuko woke up all he could think about was how his days of leading a double life were back. He thought he was over with that kind of lifestyle when he'd given up being the Blue Spirit, but his relationship with Katara had become the new mask he was forced to hide behind. It bothered him. It bothered him the way everyone always felt the need to coddle Aang. It bothered him that Aang would let his feelings for Katara supersede his duties as the Avatar. He had loved Mai, he still did, he just wasn't in love with her, but when he had been in love with her he'd been willing to give up his relationship with her to end the war. There were only three days until Sozin's comet came and Aang still acted as if learning firebending were optional.

None of the others seemed particularly worried either. Of course they all had the luxury of not knowing what his father was really like or truly capable of. He touched the scar on his face. His friends and his girlfriend still didn't know how he gotten that scar. They didn't know that his father had given it to him. None of them had been there as he screamed in pain while his father watched him writhing around in agony on the palace floor. No one knew that it was his uncle and not his father who had finally called for the medic.

Zuko didn't plan on telling them either. He wasn't exactly ashamed of his scars origins, but the pitying looks from his friends would be more than he could bare. Reliving that moment in his life would be worse through his friends eyes. When he asked his uncle how bad his scar was he had said not that bad, but one look into his uncle's eyes and Zuko knew it was worse than anything he could have possibly imagined.

Zuko sat up in his bed and stretched and yawned. Knowing that Katara was on the other side of the door got him out of bed faster than usual. After showering and dressing he opened his bedroom door just as Katara was stepping out of her room. He smiled at her. Giving her the bedroom across from his was both the smartest and stupidest thing he'd done in a while.

Katara smiled back at him. "Good morning."

"Hi, did you sleep well?" He asked.

"Very well, and you.?"

"Like a baby."

"Good to hear." Katara looked over his shoulder and into his room. "Can I see your bedroom before the others wake up?"

"What?" Zuko had started to step out into the hallway, but missed the door completely and slammed into the door frame.

"Sorry, are you OK?" Katara asked.

"I'm fine." He grunted. He'd possibly shattered his skull, but he was fine.

"I just meant your bedroom is one of the rooms in your house that I wanted to see but didn't get to see."

"Aaah, sure. My room hasn't changed since my family was here when I was just a little kid." Zuko warned her. He stepped aside so that Katara could go into his room.

Katara looked around. "It's very nice."

"Thanks. If I'm being honest I've always liked my bedroom here more than my room back at the palace. This room is smaller and feels more homey."

"This is small by you?" Katara asked. "Your room back at the palace is probably bigger than my entire village." She walked around touching random things in his room. She inspected the drawings of dragons he made when he was just a kid. Her hands traced over the model Fire Navy ships that were lined up neatly on his dresser.

"Sokka had model ships too only his were Water Tribe ships." Katara remarked.

Zuko leaned against his door frame and watched Katara. When she first started to look around his room he had felt nervous. He had hated letting his father into his room, but refusing him entry would have been an even worse consequence than having his privacy invaded. His father would look around his room with a sneer on his face. His father thought the things displayed in his room showed signs of weakness and unintelligence and never hesitated to tell him so. Zuko had come to expect that everyone would have the same reaction. Katara was different. She acted as though she were in a museum studying fine works of art.

"What a pretty bird." Katara said and reached up and touched an origami hawk hanging from his ceiling. "Did you make this?"

Zuko nodded. "I made it to commemorate my pet hawk."

"You had a pet hawk?"

"It was a present from my uncle for my eighth birthday it was the best birthday present I ever got. I named my hawk Lu Ten and I spent every moment I could with that bird. I even let him sleep in my bed at night, but then one day I woke up and Lu Ten was gone."

"What happened?"

"My dad took Lu Ten away because I couldn't keep up in my firebending forms. He said the bird was a distraction that someone of my skills and abilities didn't need, but now that I look back on it I think my father was jealous of my uncle."

"That's awful."

Zuko shrugged. He hated talking about his past because other peoples reactions let him know his childhood had been even more messed up than he thought. It's why he would never tell her or anyone else who didn't already know how he got his scar.

Katara picked up the shells he collected over the years and looked at each one of them as if she were trying to remember their names. After she had looked at each one she placed the seashells carefully back on his dresser and walked over to the wall where his tsungi horn was hanging up.

"Do you play?" She asked as she ran her hands over his tsungi horn.

"Yes. I took lessons for years."

"Would you mind playing something for me?" Katara asked.

It had been awhile since Zuko had played the tsungi horn and even longer since he played it in front of anyone, but he couldn't refuse Katara. The look on her face was too expectant. The only other person who'd ever shown this much interest in him playing was his uncle.

Katara sat on his bed and looked up at him. "What are you going to play for me?"

He lifted the tsungi horn off it's wall mount and held it's weight in his hands for a few moments. His hands shook as he put his tsungi horn up to his lips. "It's called Endless. It's just some song I wrote years ago." He replied. Three years ago to be exact.

Zuko licked his lips and closed his eyes. He didn't like for anyone to look at him while he played. The rich sound of his tsungi horn filled the room. It was a lonely haunting kind of song that made you feel exposed, or that was the way he felt when he'd written it. The night he composed the song he stood out on the deck of his ship and looked out in front of him. All he could see was the endless ocean and when he looked up all he could see was the endless night sky. His crew had talked about how beautiful it all was, but all Zuko had felt was lost, scared and lonely. At the time it seemed that was all he would ever be. His hope of finding the Avatar and returning home had seemed impossible. He opened his eyes for a second and dared to look at Katara. She sat on the edge of his bed with one hand clasped over her heart while the other wiped away tears from her eyes.

"That was more than just some song Zuko, that was amazing." Katara said. She held out her arms. "Look, you gave me the chills. I can only dream of making music that beautiful."

"It's not even finished." Zuko said though he was secretly pleased his song had moved her so much.

"I still loved it."

"One day I'll take you out to hear real musicians play. The Fire Nation symphony orchestra is vastly underappreciated." Zuko put his tsungi horn back on it's wall mount and sat down on his bed next to Katara.

"You are a real musician, but It will be nice to go out when everyone knows we're a couple."

"What do you think you're father will have to say about us being together?" Zuko asked.

"I don't know. I've never had a boyfriend before." Katara answered truthfully.

"Fair enough, but he's going to have something to say about you dating me, the prince of the Fire Nation."

"He knows you're a good person Zuko."

"I'm still Fire Nation." He said and lie back on his bed and stared up at the ceiling.

"Doesn't matter."

Zuko wasn't so sure about that. Katara didn't see the way her father had stared at him when June accused him of dating Katara. It wasn't a look that said I'm so glad the two of you are together.

"You freed him from prison and you're teaching Aang firebending. He knows you've changed."

That was the thing. He was still teaching Aang. He only had three days to teach Aang how to firebend well enough to beat his father. If he had three years he wasn't sure if it would be enough time. Zuko let out a slow breath of air, but he still felt as if he were being slowly lowered down into a pit of open flames.

Katara lie down beside him and looked into his face. "My dad trust my judgment Zuko, he'll be fine, but there are going to be a lot of people who have a lot to say about us dating, and not all of it's going to be kind. Dating me won't be easy."

"Doesn't matter. Nothing in my life has ever been easy except spending time with you."

Katara leaned forward and kissed him.

Zuko didn't know how it was that Katara's kisses managed to both calm him down and excite him. It was just a tiny kiss, but once their lips touched it was like someone had lit a fuse on a stick of blasting jelly. One kiss lead to another and another and each kiss grew longer and longer until there was no pause between one kiss and another. Katara ran one of her hands down his chest. His robe was parted open and the combination of her soft hands and the tip of her nails trailing down his bare chest caused him to shiver. Slowly she ran one hand back up his chest and the other hand clutched at his hair. It was hard to think about anything else than Katara. He slid his hands down her back and pulled her even closer to him letting his hands rest on her hips. Her breath was so hot and her body felt so damn good pressed so close to his. Both of their breathes were coming faster as their chests rose and fell against each other. Zuko dug his hands harder into Katara's hip when her tongue slipped into his mouth. He groaned. He had not expected her to do that. Dragons, how was it that she never had a boyfriend but managed to be such a damn good kisser? He didn't know, but he did know that he needed to slow things down before they got out of hand. He knew Katara could feel how excited he was getting and he didn't want to rely on her to police his actions. Slowly he broke away from their kiss.

"We should go make breakfast for the others before they find us in here. I er, just need to, ah sit here for a couple of minutes." His face felt like it was on fire as he said this, but unless he planned on cooking breakfast with his pillow in front of him there was nothing else he could do.

Katara smiled, moved a piece of hair out of his eye, and then cupped his cheek. "It's OK."

Zuko nodded and several minutes later followed Katara to the kitchen.

"It's going to be hard to leave this place. If I had a beach like this I probably wouldn't spend my time anywhere else." Katara remarked.

"You wouldn't miss all that ice and snow?"

She shrugged. "I would. The South Pole will always be home to me, but home is also where you make it."

"You could make this place a home again." Zuko thought out loud. "If anyone could make this place feel like a home again it would be you."

"Me?" Katara asked. "Do you mean in the future? Like me and you here in the future?"

Zuko looked away, but nodded. "Um, so what would you like me to do? I ah mean how can I help with breakfast?"

"Could you put the porridge on and then would you mind chopping up the vegetables? I'm making an egg scramble up for everyone."

"Sure." Calm down! Zuko shouted to himself. He was getting carried away. They'd only just started dating and here he was planning their future as a married couple. He was going to send Katara running away screaming if he didn't stop. He lit a fire in the hearth then put the porridge on to boil. He picked up a pepper and began chopping it up. "After breakfast, and after Aang gets back from his morning flight, I thought I'd start on his firebending lessons. We don't have any more time to waste." He picked up a piece of pepper and popped it into his mouth.

"He certainly could use a lot more discipline." Katara said as she cracked some eggs into a bowl and began to water whisk them vigorously.

"Will Aang eat pig chicken eggs?" He picked up another pepper and ate it.

"No. He'll eat the porridge though."

Zuko shoved one more pepper into his mouth.

"Stop eating those!" Katara snapped as he ate yet another pepper. "The peppers are for everyone, not just you!"

Zuko laughed, grinned evilly, and then picked up another pepper.

Katara grabbed for it but he danced out of her way.

"Give me that!" She lunged for the pepper but he held it over his head.

"Come get it!"

"Oh, I'll get it." She jumped up against him and lunged for the pepper again. Their faces met. Zuko pulled on one of her hair loopies.

Katara laughed and then reached up and grabbed his wrist and snatched the pepper from his hand. "I told you I'd get it."

"What are you two doing?" Aang asked from the doorway. He had a look on his face like he'd just stepped in a steaming pile of Appa's dung.

"We're making breakfast for everyone." Zuko said. "What does it look like?"

"Umm, it looks like you were pulling Katara's hair?"

"No, it looks like you need to mind your own business, Aang."

Zuko was shocked to hear the cold tone in Katara's voice. He had never heard her speak to Aang so harshly before. She stared at Aang until he looked away from her and down at the floor. His shoulders and feet turned inwards as if he were trying to disappear on the spot. Something had happened between the two of them. They had just had a whole conversation in front of him without even having to speak a word.

"Can we go somewhere and talk, please?" Aang asked.

Katara nodded at Aang and then looked at Zuko before leaving the kitchen.

"Ah." Zuko began but Katara cut him off.

"It's OK."

"But-"

"It will only take a moment."

There was a hard edge to Katara's voice so Zuko let the matter drop, but he wanted to tell her that if they went into the scullery to talk he'd be able to hear everything they were saying. His father had set it up that way so that he could eavesdrop on the servants. His father had always been paranoid that the servants may have been staging a coup.

Aang jerked his head towards the scullery and nodded. Katara nodded back and ducked into the scullery with Aang.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" She asked. She leaned up against the wall and folded her arms across her chest.

"You know, about what happened at the play."

"Oh, you mean when you forced a kiss on me?"

"Yes. I'm sorry that I kissed you without asking first. I shouldn't have."

"Thank you Aang. It means a lot hearing you say that. I just don't understand why you did that."

"I thought if I kissed you you'd kiss me back and then you'd be my girlfriend."

"That's not how it works, Aang. She sat down on a work bench and motioned for Aang to sit down beside her. "You can't make people have feelings for you that aren't there, and you can't kiss someone without any kind of permission."

"I know." Aang crossed his arms and poked his bottom lip out. "I think Zuko likes you."

"We're not here to talk about Zuko." She said.

Aang opened his mouth to protest.

"If you're going to be sorry Aang then be sorry."

"I am sorry."

"Good, then that's the end of all of this. Got it?" She looked Aang directly in his eyes and arched an eyebrow.

Aang nodded. "I got it."

She didn't say anything to Aang as they walked back to the house.

"Everything OK?" Zuko asked.

"Everything is fine."

"Yeah, everything is just great." Aang said morosely.

"You ready for your firebending lessons this afternoon?" Zuko asked.

"I'll be ready."

Toph was the next person to wake up. She walked into the kitchen with her hair all over the place looking as if she'd been shocked by a bolt of lightening shot from Azula's fingertips.

"Is there anything to eat?"

"Not yet." Aang said.

"I knew I shouldn't have woken up this early, but there was no way I was going to sleep later than snoozles."

"I heard that." Sokka said from the doorway.

"You should your ears are big enough." Toph retorted.

"Need any help?" Suki asked.

"My ears aren't big." Sokka mumbled.

"Nope, We've got it." Katara poured the eggs into the frying pan.

"I'll set the table." Suki said.

"That's a really big table." Sokka said. "I could make a boat out of this table." He rubbed the top of the table as he bent down eye level and looked down the length of it.

"Don't even think about it." Zuko said.

"I didn't say I was going to. I only said I could."

Katara carried the platter of eggs into the breakfast nook and set them down in the middle of the table.

Zuko brought in the porridge and a loaf of crusty bread and set them on the table beside the eggs.

Everyone sat down and began to eat.

Aang sat across from her and as she ate her breakfast she could feel him staring. Katara wondered if he could see the signs of her make out session written all over her face. Her lips still felt swollen from kissing Zuko. She loved the way that Zuko had made her feel, but it also scared her that it had been so easy to get caught up in those feelings. She felt like she could never get enough of Zuko's hands on her body and if he hadn't been the one to break the kiss she wondered just how far she would have let things go? That was something they would have to talk about, because no matter how far she was willing to go she wasn't willing to go all the way. Katara knew the technicalities of sex. Her Gran-gran had explained all of that to her and she had helped deliver babies, but no one had ever told her about how it felt to want sex. No one told her about desire or about love or relationships. There was so much she didn't know about being a girlfriend or being in a relationship. She was scared of her feelings. Scared of getting her heartbroken, but she couldn't help her feelings for Zuko. She was falling in love with him.

The only other person she had to talk to about it was Suki. How much more about sex did Suki know than her? Her brain couldn't handle the thought of Suki and her brother having sex, but when Suki kissed Sokka she felt all the feelings that Katara felt when she kissed Zuko. She shook her head. No. That was just too weird and disturbing to think about. She sighed. She felt shallow because she should have been thinking about ending the war. That's what mattered more. She hated to keep lying to Aang especially when he was on to the truth, it some how made the lying feel worse, but she knew that he wouldn't be able to handle her and Zuko being together. Knowing what she had to do still didn't make doing it easier.

* * *

 

Zuko's latest firebending lesson was not going at all how he had hoped it would. He had hoped that by now Aang would be able to show him some real displays of firebending, but so far everything he'd seen from Aang was disappointing. Zuko watched as he preformed the steps to the latest firebending form that he'd learned when they visited the Sun Warriors, but even with all the time that had passed Aang's movements were rudimentary and slow.

"More ferocious!" He shouted to Aang. How could he make him understand just how ruthless his father could be? He wouldn't hesitate to hurt Aang in fact he'd probably enjoy it. If somehow Aang couldn't beat his father he wondered if his uncle would be able to? If it came down to it would he? Could he kill his father? Sadly he already knew the answer to that question.

"Imagine striking through your opponent's heart."

"Ugh! I'm trying."

"Now let me hear you roar like a tiger-dillo!"

Aang let out a mid size burst of flame.

"That sounded pathetic! I said roar!" Zuko's patience was wearing thin. He wanted to grab Aang and shake him. Wake him up and make him see the truth he always tried to evade and avoid.

"Who wants a nice cool glass of watermelon juice?" Katara called out.

"Ooo, ooo, me, me, me!" Aang cried. He started to run for the front steps. The lesson was already gone from his mind and now he'd be hopeless for the rest of the day unless Zuko got him back on track.

"Hey, your lesson's not over yet! Get back here." He grabbed the back of Aang's shirt but he continued to try and run away.

"Come on, Zuko. Just take a break. What's the big deal?" Suki asked.

Gee, I don't know Suki, maybe Sozin's comet. Zuko thought but didn't bother to voice his remark.

"Fine." He dropped Aang to his feet and watched him make a bee line straight to Katara and grab the watermelon juice. Once again Katara was coddling Aang, even after he'd forced a kiss on her, she was still putting his feelings before hers. Katara didn't know that he had overheard her conversation with Aang, and she'd probably never planned on telling him about it. He couldn't fault her there were parts of his life he hadn't told her about, but it still didn't make him any less angry at Aang.

That was it. That was the end of the lesson. Aang's focus and concentration were gone for the rest of the day. He completely lacked discipline it was no wonder he was having so much trouble mastering firebending. Firebending was discipline personified.

He looked at his friends just lying around the front steps of his beach house as if they were all on a vacation. He felt his anger rise even more.

"If you want to lounge around like a bunch of snail-sloths all day, then go ahead!"

Zuko still found it strange to be among friends. Especially when he felt like everyone else was better friends with each other than they were with him. Everyone had known each other a lot longer and had been friends right from the start. They had always been on the right side of the war and had seen what he'd been to angry and prideful to accept. When the others told stories they often didn't involve him or when they did it was usually about how he had hunted them down. Or their narrow escape from one of his poorly executed plans. He knew his friends didn't do it to be spiteful, it was just the way things were, but all the same it could be the loneliest feeling in the world sometimes. To be surrounded by friends and still feel alone. None of them had the multitude of sins to make up for like he did. He owed it to the universe to stop his father from winning this war.

He stormed away from everyone. He need to be on his own to figure things out. He felt as if the entire fate of the Fire Nation rested in his hands and he refused to lose his country to his father or the war. If he couldn't explain to Aang how relentless his father would be to firebend against then he would just have to show him.

Katara didn't think much of Zuko storming off. He liked to brood on his own. He would probably feel better after he let off a little steam. Literally.

"Maybe Zuko's right. Sitting around the house has made us pretty lazy, but I know just the thing to change that. Beach party!" Sokka shouted.

It was like the words beach party flipped some kind of switch in Katara's head. Yes, a party is what they needed to take their minds off of the things they couldn't change. She didn't want to spend another minute worrying. She had made herself sick with worry. She formed a surfboard out of a sheet of ice and ran to the water's edge. She surfed her ice bent surfboard across the beach. It was almost like flying. Like leaving the world and all of it's troubles behind for a few moments to be truly free. To be something other than a girl in the middle of a war with no end in sight.

When she became Fire Lady things would be different for her and Zuko than they had been for his parents. For one thing she and Zuko would be in love. For another thing they would have friends. Real friends. She'd have her family and friends over to the beach house all of the time. Even when she had a family of her own. She would want her children to be friends with her friends children. OK, she was getting carried away she and Zuko were a long way from marriage. They were still a secret to the world that was still in the middle of a war.

Katara wished that Zuko hadn't of stormed away from everyone. He needed to relax and have fun more than any of them did combined. It hurt Katara to know that he couldn't live in the moment. He always had to be ready for what was coming. He acted as if he had to prove to the world that he was worthy of a living. After the war she wanted him to come visit her in the South Pole and be surrounded by the same sense of family and community that she had grown up with. When the war was over it wouldn't just be her and her brother that was returning home, all the men who'd been fighting the war for years and years would be coming home too. There would be so many families reunited and so much happiness and so many celebrations. She wanted Zuko to be part of that. She wanted him to know what it was like to be embraced by unconditional love.

That wasn't Zuko's background though. Unconditional love was not something he was used to receiving. His upbringing had turned him into someone who analyzed, calculated, and qualified every thought in his head in minute detail. Zuko could train Aang from dusk til dawn, but in the end it came down to Aang, and Katara believed in him. That was the difference between the two of them. She knew that Aang was going to save the world.

Zuko stood on the cliff ledge above the beach and looked down at his friends. None of them were even aware that he was up there despite the fact that he had been up there for a good fifteen minutes and hadn't bothered to try and be quiet about it. If he had been Azula or his father he would have already attacked by now, and Aang wouldn't have even made it hard for his father because he was too busy making sand sculptures. Zuko took a deep breath. He knew that he had to go through with his plan. Sometimes you had to leave Aang no other choice before he would face the things he couldn't run from. Part of it had to do with his age and part of it had to do with his being an airbender. He understood that now. So he stood on the cliff's edge not moving a muscle and not making a sound. He just watched Aang and waited for the right time to put his plan in motion.

"Check out my Appa sand sculpture." Aang said to Toph.

"Not bad, baldy. But I've been working on my sandbending. You're gonna love this." Toph boasted. She cracked her fingers and bent out a crater in the sand which Zuko couldn't see down into from where he was standing.

"Whoa. Wow, you even made a little Earth King and Bosco." Aang said.

Zuko was half tempted to give up his plan to teach Aang a lesson, and join the others and become a snail-sloth himself. He was entitled to a little fun just like everyone else, but Sozin's comet was only three days away, and even if he did join the others he'd still be the odd man out.

"Try and top that, Sokka." Toph challenged.

Sokka accepted Toph's challenge and began to make some kind of nightmarish sculpture that Zuko was pretty sure was supposed to be a purple pentapus.

"Ta-da!"

"Is that a blubbering, blob monster?"Aang asked.

"No, it's Suki."

"Suki, we'll all understand if you break up with him over this." Toph said.

"I think it's sweet." Suki replied.

Zuko rolled his eyes. He had had enough. It was time to put his plan into action.

"But it doesn't even look like…"

Zuko sent out a fire blast from is fist and decimated Sokka's butt ugly sand sculpture. He turned his attack on Aang and let go with a series of fire blast from his fist, but Aang didn't try and attack him. He ran away like an airbender, but if Aang was going to beat his father he couldn't just think like an airbender. He had to think like a firebender in order to beat a firebender.

"What are you doing?!" Aang cried.

"Teaching you a lesson!" Zuko destroyed Aang's sculpture of Appa hoping it would piss him off enough to firebend, but twelve years of an air nomadic lifestyle could not be undone in one day. Aang continued to beat a strategic retreat while Zuko remained in hot pursuit. It amazed him the lengths Aang would go through to avoid him rather than turn and face him. Aang jumped up on to the cliff that he himself had jumped down from earlier. Undeterred Zuko climbed up the cliff right after Aang.

When Katara saw the fire blast from out on the water her first thought was that Azula or Ozai had found them. She surfed back to the shore as quickly as possible.

"What happened?" She asked her brother.

"Zuko's gone crazy! I made a sand sculpture of Suki and he destroyed it! Oh, and he's attacking Aang."

Katara, Toph and Suki started after Zuko and Aang, but her brother continued to play around with a mound of sand. Suki grabbed him by his arm and literally dragged him into the fray.

Katara's one great fear had always been that Zuko would go back to his old ways, but this couldn't be that. There was no way that after everything they had gone through that all of this had been a trick to capture Aang. Katara refused to believe that. She refused to believe her brother. Zuko wasn't crazy and he hadn't changed sides.

"They went into the house." Suki yelled.

"Should we go in there after them?" Sokka asked. His question was answered via Zuko flying out through a second story wall of his beach house.

Aang must have finally had enough.

Zuko slowly got to his feet and Aang jumped though the whole he made in the wall of Zuko's beach house.

"What's wrong with you?! You could have hurt Aang." Katara shouted at Zuko.

"What's wrong with me?" He shouted back at her. "What's wrong with all of you! How can you sit around having beach parties when Sozin's Comet is only three days away!"

Oh. Zuko didn't know.

"Why are you all looking at me like I'm crazy?"

Katara immediately started to feel bad. They should have told him about the plan, but they'd come up with it before he had joined their side.

"About Sozin's Comet, I was actually going to wait to fight the Fire Lord until after it came." Aang explained.

"After?"

"I'm not ready. I need more time to master firebending."

"And frankly, your earthbending could still use some work too."

"So, You all knew Aang was going to wait?" Zuko asked.

Katara felt even worse.

"Honestly, if Aang tries to fight the Fire Lord right now, he's gonna lose. No offense."Sokka said.

"The whole point of fighting the Fire Lord before the comet was to stop the Fire Nation from winning the war. But they pretty much won the war when they took Ba Sing Se. Things can't get any worse." Katara said and hoped that it would soften the blow of having been left out of the loop.

"You're wrong." Zuko told her. "It's about to get worse than you can even imagine."

Katara wasn't sure if she wanted to hear what Zuko was going to say. Besides Aang dying and his father winning the war was already the worst case scenario, what could be worse than that?

"The day before the eclipse, my father asked me to attend an important war meeting. It was what I dreamed about and wanted for so many years. My Father had finally accepted me back, but my dream turned into a nightmare pretty quickly. At the meeting my father let me in on his master plans for the war. He plans to burn down the Earth Kingdom the same way my great grandfather burned down the Air Temples. Keeping the age old family tradition of spreading war and violence and hatred alive."

Katara winced. She had once told Zuko that spreading war, violence, and hatred was in his blood. She guessed those words had stayed with him because they had a ring of truth, not for him, but for his family. For his entire country.

"My father is going to have fleets of airships carrying troops of firebenders fly over the Earth Kingdom and those troops are going to burn everything in their path to ashes. After he's done that he plans on becoming the Supreme Ruler of whatever is left of this world. Zuko let out a sigh. "I wanted to speak out against this horrifying plan, but I'm ashamed to say I didn't." He confessed. "My whole life I struggled to gain my Father's love and acceptance, but once I had it, I realized I lost myself getting there. I forgotten who I was."

Katara fell to her knees. "I can't believe this." How had she let herself become so naive that this came as a shock to her? No wonder why Zuko had stormed off earlier he knew the true face of evil and called it father. Everything she thought she knew about how badly he'd grown up had been thrown out the window and swept away to sea.

"I always knew that the Fire Lord was a bad guy but his plan is just pure evil." Sokka said.

"What am I going to do?" Aang asked.

"I know you're scared, and I know that you're not ready to save the world, but if you don't defeat the Fire Lord before the comet comes, there won't be a world to save anymore."

"Why didn't you tell me about your dad's crazy plan sooner?" Aang shouted at Zuko.

They couldn't put this on Zuko Katara thought. They all had seen what Ozai was like and they all knew what the Fire Nation was capable of. They should have all been working a lot harder. If they couldn't stop the airships from burning down the Earth Kingdom they'd be responsible for the deaths of millions of people, and they had only three days, three days to stop another Fire Lord's plans for carrying out genocide.

"I didn't think I had to. I assumed that you were still going to fight him before the comet. No one told me you decided to wait!"

"This is bad. This is really, really bad." Aang chanted.

Everything was getting out of control. Katara finally got up to her feet. She had to calm the situation down before everything totally spiraled out of control. "Aang, you don't have to do this alone." She reassured him and placed her hand on his back. She couldn't imagine being his age and having the weight of the world resting on your shoulders. She wouldn't let him face that crushing weight alone.

"Yeah. If we all fight the Fire Lord together, we got a shot at taking him down." Toph agreed.

"All right! Team Avatar is back! Sokka shouted. "Water. Earth. Fire. Fan and sword!" He picked up two palm leaves that resembled a fan and sword. He gave the fan shaped palm to Suki and held the leaf shaped palm aloft like it was a sword.

Sokka was so strange sometimes, but she wouldn't take her brother any other way. She wouldn't have changed a hair on any of her friends heads if she could, after all they had all made it this far as they were.

"Fighting the Fire Lord is going to be the hardest thing we've ever done together, but I wouldn't want to do it any other way." Aang said.

"All right!" Sokka cheered.

It felt like old times. How many battles had they won that seemed insurmountable at the time?

Everyone, with the exception of Zuko, gathered around for a group hug. It was like breathing air to everyone else, but it was new to Zuko. It didn't matter to Katara she wouldn't let him exclude himself.

"Get over here, Zuko. Being part of the group also means being part of group hugs."

Zuko made a face. It was probably the same face he made as a child when his mom made him eat his vegetables. Still he walked over to the group so that they could complete their group hug. Even Appa was feeling the love and joined in on the group hug knocking everyone to the ground in the process.

Katara still felt badly for not telling Zuko about changing their plans. She felt even worse for not realizing how bad things must have been for him growing up. The irony of the situation was that she realized that Zuko really did deserve an award for being not as much of a jerk as he could have been. Toph had been right when she said Zuko could have turned out much worse.

* * *

 

Whether or not his approach had been the right way Zuko had broken through to Aang. He was finally ready to stop running and take his firebending lessons seriously. He seemed so serious and so focused that Zuko decided that it was finally time to show Aang how to redirect lightning.

"There's one technique you need to know before facing my Father. How to redirect lightning. If you let the energy in your own body flow the lightning will follow it. You turn your opponent's energy against them." He showed Aang the same motions that his uncle had shown him. Aang copied his movements.

"That's like waterbending."

"Exactly. My uncle invented this technique himself by studying waterbenders. "

"So, Have you ever redirected lightning before?" Aang asked.

"Once. Against my Father."

Aang's words were like a spell that transported Zuko back in time. His body was standing in the courtyard with Aang., but his mind was back in the throne room with his father. Zuko had felt the hairs on his arms and neck raise even before his father bent the lightning at him. All around him the air had crackled with electricity and it had made his skin feel as if there were billions of statically charged ants crawling over every single inch of his skin. The force of his father's lightning had pushed him back across the palace floor. It had made him feel alive and horrified at the same time, like the whole world was stopping for just that one do or die moment. The lightning within him was like a wild animal in a confined space it, wanted to get out any way possible. He controlled it. The power of his father's lightning he had taken control of it and redirected the energy flow just like his uncle had shown him.

"What did it feel like?" Aang wanted to know.

"Exhilarating, but terrifying. You feel so powerful holding that much energy in your body, but you know that if you make the wrong move, it's over." The more exhilarating part, he wanted to tell Aang, had been confronting his father after sixteen years. Telling his father off for the thirteen years of physical and emotional abuse he had put him through had felt exactly like bending lightening, exhilarating and terrifying, but in the end he was better for having done it.

"Heh. Well, not over over, right I mean there's always Katara and a little spirit water action. Am I right?"

"Actually I used it all up after Azula shot you." Katara reminded Aang.

"You'll have to take the Fire Lord's life before he takes yours." He knew this was a concept that Aang wasn't willing to grasp. but that was because Aang still didn't want to believe just how evil his father was. The lives of millions and millions of people were easily worth far more than the life of a murdering Fire Lord.

"Yeah, I'll just do that."

No he wouldn't. Zuko had already resigned himself to that fact, but if Aang didn't then who else could? Who else would? He had the opportunity once to kill his father but hadn't because he knew it was Aang's destiny and not his. He just hoped that he hadn't made a huge mistake.

"That's enough for today, Aang." Zuko said and bowed to him ending the lesson. They had practiced enough for now and you could only push kids so far.

"Your father bent lightning at you?" Katara asked him as soon as Aang left. "I'm sorry, but I can't pretend that I didn't hear."

"I don't want to talk about it. Not out here it's too open."

"How about your room?"

"The others would be suspicious."

"Well we need to go shopping for tonight's dinner." Katara reasoned. "You can tell me along the way if you want to."

"OK."

To avoid further suspicion Katara went into the house first and then after a few minutes Zuko went in. They waited until Sokka brought up the subject of dinner and then volunteered to go shopping.

Aang stared at the both of them for a long time but said nothing.

Zuko felt low. The poor kid knew what was going on and they were lying right to his face. Even if there was a reason for it he didn't feel good about it.

Appa gave Zuko a giant lick when he approached him. The sky bison always seemed to know whenever he needed a lift in spirits.

"Hey Appa." Katara said. She scratched behind both of his ears and tossed him some moon peaches.

Zuko took the reins. "Yip, yip" He looked down at the ground below. Everything looked so small. It was hard to believe those patches of green were pieces of land where people lived out there entire lives. Up in the air miles above everything the whole world vanished. It was hard to believe that anything happening below was real, perhaps that is why it was so easy for airbenders to be so detached and live a nomadic lifestyle, but Zuko needed the very real and very solid ground underneath him in order to tell Katara about his past. Up in the air he felt like his words would be blown away and lost forever to the wind. He brought Appa down in an empty field.

"Why are we landing? Do you need to talk?" Katara asked.

"Yes." He lead her under a tree where they both sat for a few minutes while he worked up the courage to tell her about his past. "The day of the black sun was the day I told my father that Aang wasn't dead. I told him that I was leaving the palace to find Aang and help him put and end to the war and to the Fire Nation's reign of tyranny. After I told him the truth I planned on walking out of the palace and never coming back, but then my father asked me if I wanted to know what happened to my mother. Of course I did, and he knew that. It was a trap. The only reason he even told me about my mother being banished was to keep me in place long enough for the eclipse to end so that I'd be right where he wanted me to be when he bend his lightning out at me. He wanted to get rid of me once and for all."

Katara squeezed his hand.

"It seems natural that a parent should love their child and want to protect them, but I doubt that my father ever loved me."

Zuko waited for Katara to interrupt and tell him that all fathers loved their children but she didn't.

"My own father wanted to throw me over the palace walls when I was just a baby because he thought I wasn't a firebender, and if my mom and the fire sages hadn't of pleaded my case he would have. He tried killing me again when I was nine, or rather my grandfather ordered for my death, and my father was going to go through with the order. He so much as admitted it to me on the day of the black sun."

Katara sat beside him and rubbed his shoulders. He was glad that she wasn't trying to make things better with words. He didn't need words they couldn't change the past. A lumped had formed in his throat. His father had never told him why his mother had been banished, but he could read between the vicious and treasonous lines.

"I think my mother killed my grandfather."

"Oh, my spirits." Katara breathed out softly.

"She was a master herbalist she would have known how and she knew that my father wanted the throne and would have done anything for it."

"She did what she had to in order to save your life. Your mother was a brave woman."

"Thank you. When the war is over, and once my uncle is Fire Lord, I want to go find my mother and bring her back to the palace to live. "

"That would be amazing. If you want me to I'll help you." Katara said.

"I'd like that."

He still hadn't told her about how he got his scar or why he left home at thirteen, and he still couldn't. Not yet. It had taken everything in him to tell her about his mother.

This time Katara took Appa's reins and flew them to the market. After finding an outlying area where Appa could graze Zuko and Katara walked hand and hand to the market square.

"What should we get for dinner?" Katara asked.

"I could make bang bang komodo chicken. I haven't had any in a long time because my uncle doesn't care for komodo chicken." Zuko said.

"It would be something different. I don't think any of us has had, the corners of her mouth twitched, bang bang komodo chicken."

"You'll love it." Zuko used to hate cooking. Or anything having to do with preparing or making his own food, but after Azula struck their uncle with lightning all of the cooking was up to him. His uncle had always been an enthusiastic eater, but even his uncle hadn't been able to eat the food Zuko made for him. So he read up on cooking when he could and through trial and error got better at cooking until he was able to make meals that his uncle was at least able to sallow. Eventually he got good enough to make meals that his uncle actually enjoyed, sometimes with great enthusiasm.

"I could make curried tofu for Aang."

"It seems like we're either planning meals or planning battles." Zuko said and picked up a lava pit pepper and sniffed it.

"Sokka's probably coming up with a battle plan as we speak. It's going to have to be flawlessly executed if we expect to beat your fath- the Fire Lord."

"You can say it." Zuko said. "Sokka tried tap dancing around it as well, but I know that Aang will have to kill my father."

"He might find another way."

"My father might not leave him a choice." Zuko said. He flew Appa back to the beach house. He needed the distraction. What would he do if Aang killed his father? Was he prepared to live in a world that didn't have his father in it? He still loved his father, and worse yet he still wanted his father to love him. He knew it would never happen ,but he wanted his family back to the way they were when they'd actually been happy and his father hadn't gone mad in his quest for power.

* * *

 

Katara hadn't slept very well last night and now that there were only two days until Sozin's comet came she was going to sleep even worse tonight, if she even slept at all. Despite the lack of sleep her body was still shot through with adrenaline. Her brother had put the finishing touches on his plans for taking out the Fire Lord and today was their first physical run through of Sokka's plan.

At the top of one of the many cliffs that surrounded the beach house Sokka had placed an effigy of the Fire Lord. The effigy was made of sticks and had a melon for a head. He'd even given it the Fire Lord's chin beard.

"Gather round Team Avatar. In order to take out the Fire Lord, or in this case, the "Melon Lord," our timing has to be perfect."

As Sokka stood talking over his battle plans Katara sat in between Suki and Zuko, and was once again struck by how odd her brother was.

"First, Suki and I will draw his fire. He drew the battle plan out on the ground in the dirt with a stick. "Then, Katara and Zuko charge in with some liquidity hot offense and while the "Melon Lord" is distracted, Aang swoops in and "BAM!" Sokka shouted. "He delivers the final blow."

"Err, what about me?" Toph asked

"For now, you're the Melon Lord's forces."

"So I get to chuck flaming rocks at all of you?"

"Whatever makes the training feel more realistic." Her brother said erroneously to Toph.

"Sweetness." Toph replied.

Everyone moved into their positions. It was just a run through of their final battle plans, but Katara felt scared. This wasn't them playing at war, this was war, and how well they executed this plan depended on how the war ended. If they failed. They failed the world. Katara crouched down next to Zuko behind a huge boulder and waited for her brother's signal.

When Sokka gave the signal everyone moved. There wasn't a second to spare.

If Toph was scared she wasn't showing it. She was really getting into her role as Melon Lord. In fact she seemed to be really into it. She let out an overly dramatic maniacal laugh. "Muahahahahahaha!" Then she launched an army of stone Fire Nation soldiers at Sokka and Suki.

Sokka and Suki quickly took out the soldiers, though the real fight would be a lot harder because the stone soldiers didn't bend fire at them, but Toph had found a way around that. She launched a boulder covered in flaming tar from off of her place on the cliff top at them.

While Suki was able to catapult herself over the boulder and keep going full tilt. Sokka had to flatten himself to the ground when the boulder landed too close to him for comfort.

"Watch it, Toph!" He yelled as he jumped up from the ground and waved an angry fist at Toph forgetting for the umpteemth time that she couldn't see him.

"I am not Toph, I am "Melon Lord. Muahahahahaha!"

The earthbender was insane.

She and Zuko were up next. Katara launched herself from her place behind the boulder and ran headlong into the battle. Toph surrounded them with her stone soldiers. As quickly as she could Katara bent the water out of her flask and took out her soldiers while standing back to back with Zuko who was taking out his stone soldiers with some quick fire blast.

With the Fire Lord's troops taken out it was Aang's move. He launched himself off the cliff with his staff held high in the air ready to deliver the death blow to the Fire Lord, but the death blow never came. Instead of smashing his staff down on the Melon Lord's head Aang pulled his staff back.

"What are you waiting for? Take him out!" Zuko ordered.

"I'm sorry, but it just didn't feel right. I didn't feel like myself." Aang explained.

Sokka came from out of his position behind a boulder and marched up to Aang. "What's wrong with you?" He asked and pointed his finger at Aang's chest. "If this was the real deal, you'd be shot full of lightning right now." Sokka snapped.

Katara felt conflicted. On one hand she was just as angry at Aang as Sokka was. She just wanted the war to be over with. She fought because she had to and because it was what needed to be done, but at some point she'd like to stop fighting and live for awhile. On the other hand she didn't want Aang to have to destroy himself in order to save the world. Asking him to kill someone was a lot to ask. He was only twelve. He was still a child. If he did have to kill the Fire Lord in order to save the world what would be left of Aang?

Sokka unsheathed his sword and sliced it clean through the Melon Lord's head.

Aang grimaced and then closed his eyes to block out the graphic brutalness her brother's action inferred.

"That's how it's done." Sokka said coldly.

* * *

 

"I have a surprise for everyone!" Katara cried out.

It was hours after their first run through of Sokka's final battle plan, and Aang still seemed upset that he hadn't been able to take out the Melon Lord. While everyone sat in the courtyard eating dinner and talking Katara watched as Aang picked at his food. She couldn't stand to see him so upset. He looked as though he was only minutes away from falling apart. Gloomy just wasn't Aang's style and she wanted to do something to put a smile back on Aang's face. To put a smile on everyone's face and raise the group's morale.

"I knew it! You are having a secret thing with Zuko!"

Everyone turned to look at Toph.

"Er, I was looking for more sheets in the attic and I found this. Look at baby Zuko!"

She unrolled the scroll she was holding to reveal a picture of a chubby little Zuko at the beach. He was wearing a diaper and his chubby little arms were outstretched as if he wanted to be picked up by his mother.

"Isn't he cute?" She asked.

Everyone laughed. Everyone except for Zuko. He sat there glowering.

"Oh lighten up, I was just teasing." She said.

"That's not me. It's my Father." Zuko replied.

Katara immediately rolled the scroll back up. This had not gone at all how she planned it. She only brought the scroll out to try and lift everyone's spirits out of the slump they seemed to have fallen into ever since Aang failed to kill the Melon Lord, but her best laid plans had just ended up blowing up in her face.

"But he looked so sweet and innocent." Suki said.

"Well that sweet little kid grew up to be a monster. And the worst Father in the history of Fathers."

"But he is still a human being." Aang reasoned.

"You're going to defend him?" Zuko said his voice somewhere between disbelief and absolute anger.

"No, I agree with you. Fire Lord Ozai is a horrible person and the World will probably be better off without him. There's gotta be another way."

"Like what?" Zuko wanted to know.

"I don't know. Maybe we can make some big pots of glue and then I can use gluebending to stick his arms and legs together so he can't bend anymore."

"Yeah. Then you can show him his baby pictures and all those happy memories will make him good again."

"Do you really think that would work?" Aang asked hopefully. Grasping at straws was all he had left at this point.

"No!" Zuko shouted.

"This goes against everything I learned from the monks. I can't just go around wiping out people I don't like." Aang fired back.

"Sure, you can. You're the Avatar. If it's in the name of keeping balance, I'm pretty sure the Universe will forgive you." Sokka snarked.

"This isn't a joke, Sokka! None of you understands the position I'm in!" Aang yelled.

Things were getting out of hand. She had to try and calm things down. "It's just" Katara began.

"Just what, Katara?! What?" Aang shouted at her.

"We're trying to help." She shouted back. She knew he was under a lot of pressure but so was she. So was everyone else.

"Then when you, Aang said and pointed a finger at her, figure out a way for me, he pointed back to himself, to beat the Fire Lord without taking his life, I love to hear it!"

"Aang, don't walk away from this." She demanded. Katara was sick of him running away when things started to get too heavy. Every time he went away he left her behind to worry herself sick about him. Every time she thought he wouldn't run away again he did.

"Let him go." Zuko said and put a hand on her shoulder to stop her from going after Aang. "He needs time to sort it out by himself."

Katara closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. Zuko was right. She turned around and smiled at him. He was a wonderful boyfriend. Whenever things got rough he was always there by her side. Even when they didn't see eye to eye he was there by her side. They had their fights because they were both the type to take things head on, but they also were the type to resolve their fights because neither of them liked to leave things unfinished.

"We should probably all go inside so it doesn't look like we're sitting out here waiting for Aang to get back." Suki said.

"But weare waiting for Aang to get back." Sokka countered.

"Well, we don't want him to think we're spying on him."

"Why don't we build a bonfire out on the beach and if Aang sees us and decides to join us we'll know he's done being a whiny little crybaby." Toph suggested.

"Yeah, Zuko said, a fire sounds good."

Fifteen minutes later the bonfire was going and everyone, with the exception of Aang, sat around it roasting komodo sausages.

"This bonfire feels bittersweet." Suki said. "I mean this will probably be the last time all of us will be here together like this."

Zuko looked at Katara then at the rest of the gang then back at Katara and widen his eyes. Katara nodded and hoped she was giving him permission to do what she thought he was going to do.

Zuko stood up. "Actually Katara and I will probably be spending a lot of time here. We're dating."

Katara smiled. He did exactly what she hoped he would do. He made them official.

"I KNEW IT!" Toph shouted.

"Congratulations!" Suki cried and raised her cup of watermelon juice.

Sokka's mouth had dropped into his lap, but he quickly shut it and turned to Zuko.

"What I said to you back in Taku still stands."

"What did you say to him?" Katara wanted to know. "Were you talking to Zuko about me?"

"It's just between us guys, OK." Sokka said.

"If you think I'm going to let this just stay between the guys, then you don't know me at all.".

"No, really it's OK, Katara." Zuko said. "Sokka was just looking out for you."

"I can look out for myself."

"What's Mai going to say when she finds out you're dating the Sugar Queen?" Toph wanted to know.

"I don't know. I doubt she'll be happy, but we were already broken up."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." Katara said curtly.

"Will you invite me to the palace when you become Fire Lady?" Suki teased.

"You don't have to wait until then, you're all invited to the palace after the war." Zuko said.

"After the war I'm going to find a cave and go to sleep in it for about a year." Toph said.

"Oh, but when I picked a cave for us to hide out in you were too good for it." Sokka huffed.

"Sokka, you should go live in a cave since you have the brain of a cavehopper." Toph said.

Katara laughed, but she couldn't help but think about what Suki said. How close to one another would they remain after the war?

"When Aang comes back we should all make a pact that we'll meet up here once a month every summer." Zuko said.

"You wouldn't mind having all of us here?" Suki asked.

"No. You guys are the first friends I've ever had, and now that I know what I've been missing I don't want to go back to life before friends."

"I never had friends before this, Toph chimed in, and as much as you all drive me crazy, I don't want a friendless life either."

"Now that I think of it, it's the same with us." Katara said and pointed to her brother. "We were the "oldest" young people in our village, and besides each other we didn't have any other friends. At least none our own age."

"Well, I've had friends before all of you, but you guys are more than my friends. You're family." Suki said.

Katara stood up and held her arms out. "Group hug!"

This time Zuko joined the group hug without protest.

"The war might be ending, but Team Avatar is forever!" Sokka shouted.

Katara sat back down beside Zuko and he pulled her into his arms and smiled down at her.

Katara leaned back against Zuko's chest and closed her eyes. It felt wonderful to not have to hide her relationship with Zuko from her friends. Even though Toph, Suki, and even her brother apparently knew that they were dating.

"It will be weird going back home to my parents with me knowing that they tried to force me back home, and them knowing that I escaped." Toph said and brought her knees up to her chin. "I don't even know if I want to go back home."

"Hey, if things get too weird at home you can always come and stay with us in the South Pole." Sokka offered.

"No way!" Toph said. "My feet would freeze off walking around on all that snow and ice."

"Am I not a master inventor?" Sokka asked. "I'll find away for you to see the South Pole."

"I actually believe that." Toph said.

"Me too." Suki chimed in.

"Then it's settled." Sokka said. "If things get too bad at home you're coming to stay with us." He stuffed the last of his komodo sausage into his mouth and looked around. "I don't think Aang is going to come back any time soon." He announced. "We should probably get some sleep. We're going to have to leave first thing tomorrow morning."

Katara stood up and put the fire out. The good times couldn't last for ever, but there little reprieve from the war had been enough for now.

* * *

 

The morning was starting off to be a hectic one. Katara only had some fruit for breakfast she was much too nervous to eat anything else. Since they hadn't done any packing the night before they had to rush around like pig chickens with their heads cut off to get it done now. Katara had made a list of all of everyone's belongings and was double checking it to make sure that nothing got left behind.

Throughout the house she could hear doors opening and closing and feet walking up and down the hall and then perfect silence. Everyone must have gone outside. They had agreed to meet in the courtyard when they were done packing.

This was it. They were going to go put and end to a war that the world had been fighting for over one hundred years. If she died fighting this war then she hoped that it meant all of her other friends lived, because she wasn't prepared to live without a single one of them.

"Please Yue, keep them safe." Katara prayed. She took one last look around her room. One day she would come back here and this wouldn't be her room any more. As Fire Lady she would share the master suite with Zuko. What, she wondered, would a marriage to Zuko mean for the Southern Water tribe? The war wasn't going to end how people truly felt, but minds could also be changed. Her boyfriend was a perfect example of that.

The others were already out in the courtyard.

Zuko had already fed Appa and Sokka was loading their belongings onto the saddle.

Katara read off the list of their belongings to her brother and he checked that each item was there.

"Okay, that's everything." Sokka said when Katara had finished reading from the list.

"No, it's not. Where's Aang?" Toph asked.

Katara started. Aang! Had he even come home last night? She hadn't notice him missing at breakfast because no one ate breakfast together. They had all been too busy packing.

At once everyone ran back into the beach house.

"Aang? Aang!" Zuko called out as he climbed the stairs to the grand foyer but there was no answer.

"Come on, lazy bones, let's go." Toph called trying to draw him out. Still there was no answer.

Without having to speak to each other the gang split up. Katara, Sokka and Suki went left while he and Toph went right. Zuko checked Aang's room but it was empty. He met Toph back in the hallway but she lifted her shoulders and shrugged to indicate that she hadn't found him either. Neither had anyone else. The only place left to look was the balcony.

There was no Aang, but there were signs that he had been there.

"He left his staff. That's so strange." Sokka said.

"Aang's not in the house. Let's check the beach." Zuko commanded. Aang was the Avatar, but even he couldn't vanish into thin air.

There were more signs that Aang had come back to the beach house after their argument. His footprints on the beach were leading right into the ocean.

"Look! There's his footprints. The trail ends here."

"So? He went for a midnight swim and never came back?" Suki pondered out loud.

"Maybe he was captured." Katara suggested.

"I don't think so. Sokka said and bent down to check out Aang's footprints. "There's no sign of a struggle."

"I bet he ran away again." Toph said.

"Ah-uh. He left behind his glider and Appa."

"Then what do you think happened to him oh sleuthy one?" Toph wanted to know

"It's pretty obvious. Aang mysteriously disappears before an important battle? He's definitely on a Spirit World journey."

"But if he was, wouldn't his body still be here?" Zuko asked.

"Oh yeah, forgot about that."

"Then he's gotta be somewhere on Ember Island. Let's split up and look for him." Katara commanded.

"I'm going with Zuko! Toph announced suddenly.

Zuko felt his face burn with embarrassment when Toph grabbed onto him. It wasn't like she did know that Katara was his girlfriend.

Toph must have sensed that everyone was looking at her. "What? Everyone else went on a life changing field trip with Zuko. Now it's my turn."

Katara smirked at him before going off with Suki to look for Aang. Sokka took off on Appa by himself, and Zuko reluctantly left with Toph. He was still worried that Aang wouldn't be able to defeat his father. His father would do anything, anything to win the war. Not to mention his sister was out there, and she had actually taken Aang's life. What if this time Aang died in the Avatar state? There was no magic water to bring him back to life this time. Even worse if Katara got hurt there was no one to heal her. The North Pole may have been full of healers, but by the time Katara got there. Zuko stopped mid thought. That outcome was not something that he wanted to think about.

"And then when I was nine, I ran away again."

"Uh-huh." Zuko said as he realized that all of this time Toph had been talking to him.

"I know I shouldn't complain, my parents gave me everything that I ever asked for. But they never gave me the one thing that I really wanted. Their love. You know what I mean?"

Zuko put his head down and sighed. He hated to be short with Toph, but he could hardly pay attention to her sob story when all he could think about was his father burning down the world. "Look, I know you had a rough childhood but we should really focus on finding Aang." He snapped.

"This is the worst field trip ever." Toph said morosely and blew a frustrated breath of air through her bangs.

When Zuko and Toph got back to the beach house Suki and Katara were sitting on the front steps looking pissed off.

"No luck?"

"Oh no we found Aang, the flying bald lady version of Aang." Katara snarled.

"She was with that musclely meathead actor who played Toph and the two of them were showing off for a group of their fans." Suki said.

"We really thought it was him. The crowd was even chanting his name!"

"And you couldn't tell that it wasn't Aang from behind." Suki slammed her fist into the palm of her hand.

Toph laughed.

"I guess there's nothing left to do but wait for Sokka." Zuko said.

It was about a twenty minute wait.

"Judging by the looks on your faces, I'm guessing you guys didn't find Aang either." Sokka said when he arrived at the beach house. He landed Appa and jumped down from the saddle.

"No. It's like he just disappeared."Zuko said. Maybe Aang could disappear into thin air.

"Hey, wait a minute, has anyone noticed that Momo's missing too?" Toph asked.

"Oh no!" Sokka cried. "I knew it was only a matter of time. Appa ate Momo! Momo! I'm coming for ya, buddy."

"Sokka, Appa didn't eat Momo. He's probably with Aang." Katara explained.

"That's just what Appa wants you to think." Sokka said and climbed into Appa's mouth. Sokka was probably the worst tasting thing that he ever had in his mouth before.

"Get out of the bison's mouth, Sokka." Zuko couldn't believe that he actually had to utter that sentence. "We have a real problem here. Aang is nowhere to be found and the comet is only two days away."

"What should we do, Zuko?" Katara asked.

Suki and Toph looked up at him expectantly.

"I don't know. Why are you all looking at me?" Being the oldest in this situation didn't help and he didn't have some kind of clue that they didn't. He was just as lost as everyone else.

"Well, you are kind of the expert on tracking Aang." Katara told him point blank.

"Yeah, if anyone's got experience hunting the Avatar, it's you." Toph seconded.

They weren't wrong. Only when he tracked Aang before he had his own ship and his own crew, and when he hadn't had his own crew he'd used other people to track Aang down like Combustion Man and June. JUNE! That was the answer. Her shirshu would be able to track Aang no matter where he was in the world.

"C'mon." He said to the others. "Aang isn't here, but I think I know how to find him."

He climbed up onto Appa and took up the reins and called out "Yip, yip." With a slap of his huge tail Appa launched them into the air.

"Where are we going?" Toph called out after they had been flying for some time.

"To find Aang." Zuko replied.

"I know that! Where are we going to find Aang?"

"We're heading towards the Earth Kingdom." Suki explained to Toph. "So I guess there?"

"Zuko, I don't want to tell you how to do your job but why are we heading towards the Earth Kingdom? There's no way Aang's there."

"Just trust me."

The Wicked Wolf Fox Tavern was a favorite haunt of June's and Zuko was pretty sure that's where she would be. She usually liked to cause trouble so she wouldn't be hard to find. In fact she'd probably be in the middle of a fight or getting ready to start one. He landed Appa in the courtyard of the tavern and everyone quickly scrambled off of Appa. The gang filed into the tavern. It had the same smell of cheap alcohol, stale cigarettes, and unwashed bodies as always. It was filled with the type of people you'd give pause to sharing a safe space with in broad daylight. They were even worse at night.

"And the reason you brought us to a seedy Earth Kingdom tavern is what now?" Katara wanted to know.

"June." Zuko said and pointed at the table that the bounty hunter was sitting at.

Zuko could see that the only thing that jail had done for June was make her better at being bad. She sat at her table casually holding a cup of hot tea while kicking a bar patron around the face with her booted foot. It was like she was playing a game.

"Oh yeah that weird bounty hunter with the giant mole." Sokka said.

"Mole? Her skin is flawless." Suki said.

"No, she has this giant mole creature she rides around on." Sokka explained.

Another bar patron with a red bandanna tied around his forehead jumped into the middle of the fight and June began to fight him without putting down her cup.

"Her shirshu." Zuko corrected and then turned to look at Katara. "It's the only animal that can track Aang's scent anywhere in the world. It's the one shot we have of finding him."

For a moment it looked like Red Bandanna was going to get the better of June. He swung a series of punches that caused her to back up, and one point he even knocked the cup of tea out of her hand, but June being the opportunist that she was managed to turn the tide in her favor. When Red Bandanna rushed her and she used his forward momentum to grab him by the arm and hurl him over her shoulder. He landed hard on a table. June held her hand out in time to grab her cup out of mid air and catch her tea before it could spill on the ground. She took a sip of it and walked back to her table as if this were an everyday occurrence. Knowing June it probably was.

"I don't know who this June lady is but I like her." Toph announced.

June kicked a chair away from her table and sat down in it.

"I see that prison has really reformed her." Sokka said.

Zuko lead the group over to her table.

"Oh great, June said as she poured herself a cup of what Zuko saw was sake and not tea, it's Prince Pouty. Where's your creepy grandpa?"

"He's my uncle, and he's not here." He felt a wave of regret wash over him because it was all his fault that his uncle wasn't here right now.

June smirked up at him. "I see you worked things out with your girlfriend."

"Her name is Katara!" Zuko yelled.

"My name is Katara!" Katara shouted.

"I knew you were lying when you said she wasn't your girlfriend. So what do you want?"

Zuko didn't even bother to explain that he wasn't lying, because he and Katara had only recently began dating. It seemed the whole damn world knew they should have been together before they did.

"I need your help finding the Avatar.

"Hmph. Doesn't sound too fun." June said and took a drink of her sake.

"Does the end of the world sound like more fun?" He shouted.

"All right. All right." June said and held her hands up into the air. "I said it didn't sound fun. I didn't say I wouldn't do it."

"Hey! I want a rematch." A voice called out behind Zuko. He turned around to see that Red Bandanna was back at June's table.

"Forget it, Ryu. You got your ass kicked fair and square."

"I"m not asking." Ryu shouted and flipped over June's table causing everyone in the tavern to turn around and look.

"Get lost!" Zuko said and grabbed Ryu by the back of his shirt and flung him as far away from their group as he possibly could.

"Now, about finding Aan-"

"I'm not afraid of you!" Ryu shouted. He marched up to their group. "I know all about you, Prince Zuko."

The noisy Tavern turned usually quite. You could have heard a pin drop on a pile of feathers it was so quite.

Zuko spun around to face Ryu. If it was a fight he wanted. It was a fight he was going to get.

Ryu smirked at Zuko and then turned around to face the now silent bar patrons and shouted as loudly as he could. "His own father burned and disowned him. Ryu pointed to Zuko's scar. "He's not a prince, he's an outcast!"

Every single pair of eyes in The Wild Wolf Fox Tavern turned and trained on Zuko's face. He felt as if his scar had quadrupled in size and his scared skin felt as if were growing bigger and bigger until the feeling of the scaring covered his entire face. He stood there caught between anger and embarrassment. He could feel his blood pounding in his ear. He wanted to beat the daylights out of Ryu, but his humiliation had rendered him immobile. People had began to find their voices again and Zuko could hear people whispering about him.

"He's the Fire Lord's son he deserves it!"

"I didn't want to say anything but it's hideous."

"Makes me want to throw up."

"He should cover it up so no one else has to look at it."

"Too bad his father didn't burn the rest of his face off."

Zuko felt as helpless now as the day it had happened. Now everybody in the tavern knew that he'd been branded and sent away like an animal by his father. He felt ashamed of the tears that were stinging in the corners of his eyes. It still hurt. To have groups of people stare at him as if he were on display in a museum of horrors. To have them look at him as if all that he were was his scar still hurt. Ryu and the others would never know how long it was before he could will himself to look in the mirror. Or how he'd spent the rest of the year he got that scar feeling like an ugly, hideous monster. When had to shave off his hair he acted brave as if he didn't care, but later that night on his ship he had locked himself in his room and cried himself to sleep. He was never able to forget about his scar, but some days it wasn't all he thought about. Some days he didn't even hate it. He had worked hard, damn hard to get to that point, and Ryu had taken that feeling away. Zuko hated him for that. How did this insignificant stranger have the ability to so aptly strip him of his dignity so thoroughly?

"Get out of here before I make you get out!" Katara shouted at Ryu and broke up the quietness of the tavern.

All the eyes shifted from Zuko to Katara and then back to Ryu. He had been called out and now the crowd was waiting to see how he would respond.

Ryu spread his legs and put his hand on his hips. He lifted his chin and sneered down at Katara.

Katara was unafraid. She walked right up to Ryu until she was only inches away from his face and bent out a stream of water from her flask and took up an offensive waterbending form.

"You heard my sister. Get out now!" Sokka demanded. He stepped up next to his sister and pulled out his boomerang.

"Yeah, or you'll be sorry." Toph added and stood beside Sokka.

"Really, sorry." Suki said coming up beside Toph. His friends had made a wall between him and Ryu even though he didn't need their protection. At least not from any of his physical attack.

Ryu seeing that he was outnumber left the tavern.

"Are you, OK?" Katara asked. She placed one of her hands on his shoulder.

"I'm fine." He wasn't, but his friends standing up for him in front of everyone made his embarrassment feel a little less mortal. He turned to June. "Let's go find Aang."

He lead her out into the courtyard where she had left Nyla. Zuko realized that meant Appa and Nyla were alone in the courtyard together. He hoped they hadn't tried to kill one another. Their first meeting wasn't exactly a friendly one.

Appa and Nyla were growling at one another as Zuko and the gang approached them. It looked as though his worst fears might be realized, but then Appa licked Nyla and everything seemed to be copacetic.

"Nyla." June cooed and thew a raw stake to her shirshu. Nyla devoured the stake within seconds. "Who's my little snuffly wuffly." June asked and petted Nyla on her snout. Nyla flicked out her long tongue in a jester of love? "Whoa!" June cried and gently pressed down on Nyla's snout to close her mouth. "Careful there. Okay, whose got something with the Avatar's scent on it?"

Katara climbed up on to the back of Appa's saddle. "I have Aang's staff." She handed the staff down to June who walked it over to Nyla. The shirshu took a few sniffs of Aang's staff and then began sniffing the air. Then the ground and the air again. Around and around in a circle Nyla sniffed until finally she dropped to the ground and rubbed at her nose with both her paws and made a sort of growling noise.

"Well, what does that mean?" Zuko asked June.

"It means your friend's gone."

"We know he's gone, that's why we're trying to find him." Toph pointed out.

"No, I mean he's gone gone. He doesn't exist." June replied,

"What do you mean Aang doesn't exist? Do you mean he's, Sokka's knees buckled, you know, dead?"

"Nope, we could find him if he were dead she said as she petted Nyla's snout. Ah, she threw up her hand, it's a real head scratcher. See ya."

"Helpful, real helpful." Toph said.

"Wait, I have another idea." Zuko told the group. "There's only one other person in this world who can help us face the Fire Lord." He turned towards June who had mounted Nyla. "I'll be right back with a smell sample."

Zuko ran to his backpack and rummaged through it until he found what he was looking for. He ran back to June with his smell sample.

"You saved your uncle's sweaty sandal?" Sokka asked. He and the others had pinched there noses to ward off the smell of his uncle's sandal.

Zuko couldn't blame them. The smell from his uncles feet had been known to burn the hair off of the inside of people's noses.

"I think it's kind of sweet." Toph admitted.

Nyla lunged forward and sniffed the sandal.

"Let's do this." June said once her shirshu had picked up the scent. She didn't even wait for the others to get on to the back of Appa. She just took off without them.

"Hey, wait up!" Zuko cried.

Everyone scrambled onto the back of Appa as quickly as they could.

Nyla ran along the ground and Appa followed her from up above.

"Where is your uncle?" Sokka wanted to know. "This is taking all day."

"I don't know, but wherever he is Nyla will find him."

"Well, wherever he is let's just hope Nyla finds him before Sozin's comet." Toph said.

Zuko stomach felt all twisted up in knots. What was he going to say to his uncle when he finally saw him again? Would his uncle want to even talk to him? He had betrayed his uncle during his first test of faithfulness, and because of that his uncle had been sent to jail. He couldn't forget the look on his uncle's face when he had betrayed him. His uncle had looked so disappointed. Zuko couldn't blame him. He wouldn't even blame his uncle if he never spoke to him again.

After traveling for a while Zuko started to pick up on enough landmarks to realize where it was that they were headed. "We're going to Ba Sing Se?" Zuko asked. What could his uncle possibly be doing in Ba Sing Se?

"Your Uncle's somewhere beyond the wall." June explained. "Nyla's getting twitchy so he can't be too far. Good luck." June left them. Probably to go make some money or start a fight. Wherever it was that she was going Zuko knew that she would be all right. She would survive this war.

"It's been a long day. Let's camp and start our search again at dawn." Zuko announced. His stomach twisted it's self up into even more knots. All that was between a reunion with him and his uncle was a wall. What was he going to do if his uncle never spoke to him again?

The others took up their roles for setting up their camp without a word. No one had brought up what Ryu had said about his father burning him though he was sure that everyone was thinking about it or had at least given the idea some thought since they had left The Wicked Wolf Fox Tavern. He didn't have the words to talk about it either so he chose to say nothing.

There was no need to set up their tents. It wasn't cold out and whatever warmth they needed they could get from sleeping on Appa as they had often done to conserve heat.

"I thought I would make a stew for tonight's dinner, Zuko could you come help me collect some water."

"Don't take too long little love birds." Toph said and made wet kissing noises. "Or else we're coming after you."

"Gross, Toph. You're giving me the oogies."

"Shut up, Sokka." Suki ordered.

Zuko followed Katara to a small watering hole.

Katara drew up the water from the watering hole and bent it into a wineskin. When it was full she handed the wineskin to Zuko and started to feel up another one.

I have a confession to make." She told him as she handed him the second wineskin.

"Oh, really?" He asked. "What is it?"

"I sort of knew about your father."

"Really, how!?" Zuko asked. He was unable to keep the shock from his voice.

Katara looked down at her hands before answering him. "You were having a nightmare. It was sort of like you were reliving the assault."

"Oh."

"I am so sorry, Zuko."

"That was a long time ago."

"That doesn't mean that it still doesn't hurt."

"When I was thirteen I asked my uncle if I could attend a war meeting. I shouldn't have been allowed to go, it was a serious meeting involving some of the most powerful military leaders in the Fire Nation, but I guess my uncle felt sorry for me and let me tag along, on the conditions that I not speak out."

"Oh, Zuko." Katara said softly.

"One of the officers was going to sacrifice a whole entire unit of new Fire Nation troops to advance our placement in the war against the Earth Kingdom, when I spoke out against the plan I disrespected my father."

"So he burned your face?" Katara's tone of voice sounded as if he'd just told her he was about to run off to the foggy swamp to marry Momo.

"Actually, he challenged me to an agni kai, but I refused to fight him, so then he burned my face. Zuko gave a bitter laugh. "The entire royal court watched as I begged and pleaded with my father to call of the angi kai, and when that didn't work they watched as I snotted and cried while rolling the Palace floors in my soiled pants. No one would dare to help me, not even the doctors, until my uncle stepped intervened. Once the doctor's cleaned my wound and patched me up my father banished me from the Palace and the Fire Nation. He said the only way I could return to the Fire Nation is if I captured Aang, and then and only then I could return home with my honor."

Katara balled her hands into fist. "Your father is a monster!" Tears were streaming down her face."How could he be so cruel to you? You were just a child. His child. You're his only son." She shook her head. "All this time you were trying to capture Aang it was only so you could go back home." Tears continued to fall from her eyes and soak into her clothes.

Katara motioned to bend away her tears, but Zuko wiped them away instead."Don't cry, Katara. It's not you're fault. You didn't banish me."

Without another word Katara pulled him into her and hugged him. He could feel her trembling against him. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to be swallowed up in her embrace. It served to act as a buffer between him and the painful memories that were now invading his mind. The pain of the burn had sent him into convulsions and he'd released his bowels on himself. Even though the pain of being burned he still felt humiliation over going to the bathroom on himself in front of the royal court.

"Don't tell the others. I'm not ready to talk about it with them just yet."

"I won't. I would never unless you said I could."

He pulled away from her hug and took her hand and they walked back to their little camp.

Toph had already formed her rock tent.

Sokka had set up a fire pit and Zuko lit a flame.

Everyone ate quickly and quietly, but the sound of everyone's anxiety pounded like a drum in Zuko's head. This could very well be his last day on the face of the Earth. He hoped that it wouldn't be, but if it was he prayed that Katara, and his friends would be free and happy.

"Good night everybody." Toph said and disappeared into her rock tent.

"I think I'm going to turn in too." Sokka said.

Appa was already sleeping and Sokka and Suki found a place on one of his enormous legs to bed down for the night.

"We should get some sleep too." Katara said to Zuko. "There's nothing more we can do until tomorrow."

"I know." Zuko said.

"Well, until tomorrow sweet dreams."

"Sweet dreams." He said to Katara.

They found their own place on Appa's legs and settled down for sleep. Zuko looked into Katara's eyes and she looked back into his. He loved the way she always stared at him face on. She was never shy about letting him see what written on her face. Her eyes said a million sorrys to him. Her eyes told him that no matter what happened that she would always be by his side just like he would always be by hers. As awful as everything that he had been through was, in the end it turned out for the best. He would have never seen the light if he had not been banished from home. He would have never found friends, love or forgiveness if he hadn't of been banished from his home and treated like an exile. He would have never accepted his scar or his destiny if he hadn't of found friend who accepted him for who he was.

There was no way his father could win. Friendship, love and, loyalty, real loyalty were more powerful forces then a man as weak as his father could ever hope to understand. Wherever Aang was he was all right. Zuko knew it. Aang would face his destiny just like the rest of the gang would. There was no turning back now. Nothing could stop Sozin's comet from coming and, win, lose or die, whatever was going to happen was going to happen.


	12. Cry Uncle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are greatly appreciated.

Aang

Aang only meant to go for a walk to clear his head, but something stronger than a compulsion kept calling him out to the sea. It was a compulsion even stronger than his will. As if in a dream he walked to the edge of the beach and then swam into the sea in a mindless rhythm. He didn't know for how long or how far out he swam but the next thing he remembered was waking up on solid ground. It was made out of some kind of material that he couldn't bend. Not water, earth, fire or air. After he'd been exploring the island a while with Momo he got the feeling that the "island" was moving. Either that or the mountains he was looking at were getting closer. He airbent himself up above the treetops to give himself a good look at his surroundings. There was a small wake coming from behind the island. Something didn't make sense. Islands couldn't create wakes. He dived off the side of the island and swam down to further inspect the mystery that was unfolding before his very eyes. A large scaly leg swept past his face. It was the biggest leg of any creature he'd ever seen in his life.

"It's amazing, Momo!" Aang cried as he climbed back up onto what he recently thought was an island. "The biggest animal in the world! I've got to swim around and find its face." How a creature as big as this had remained hidden was mind boggling.

"How did you find our island?" A small voice called out.

Aang, who was in mid dive, windmilled his arms and managed not to fall. Once he gained his footing he turned toward the sound of the voice. It belonged to a young girl of six or seven. Her hair was done in two ponytails and she was wearing an orange and yellow jumper, air nomad colors. Her chubby cheeks were stained with some kind of berry juice.

"Hi, I'm Aang." He said. "What's your name?"

"I'm Dawa, but I'm not asposed to talk to strangers." She said but she showed no signs of fear. She pointed to his tattoos. "You're an airbender!"

"I am! Are you an airbender too?"

"Yes." The little girl said and continued to stare at him with wide curious eyes.

"Well if we're both airbenders that means that I'm not a stranger. Aang reasoned. "Do other airbenders live here?"

Dawa covered her mouth and giggled. "Yes, silly. I'm just a kid I can't live by myself." She seemed to be growing more comfortable around him, but still seemed hesitant. Though she hadn't run away from him she had backed away several feet.

Aang bent down so that he was on her level. "Please, you have to take me to them." His heart was hammering away in his chest. He wasn't the last airbender. How?

Dawa stuck her fingers in her mouth and pulled down on the corner of her lip. She seemed to be debating.

"I'm the Avatar you can trust me, pretty please, I need you to take me to where the other airbenders are."

Momo flew off of his shoulder an onto Dawa's and sniffed the side of her face and then licked her cheek. The little girl giggled and finally she held out her hand to him.

"Thank you, Dawa." Aang gave her a huge smile and took her hand.

Dawa lead Aang through thick brush and foliage until they came upon a well worn footpath. There were cries of animals that Aang had never heard before. Bugs he didn't recognize flew around him. He saw flowers and plants that he was sure Chunhua didn't even know about. It was like he was in a completely different world. The two walked hand in hand along the footpath in silence for several minutes and Aang tried to take it all in. Every sound, smell and feel of the land. The lush landscape began to thin out until they reached a break in the trees and then a clearing. Aang rubbed his eyes, but it wasn't a dream, he was actually standing in front of a small village full of airbenders.

There were houses with small gardens. Several small buildings. Even an area for sky bisons!

Appa wasn't the last of his kind either. He knew it. In his heart and soul he had always felt like he wasn't the last airbender and now to see living proof that he wasn't was more than he could have ever dared to hope for. Seeing airbenders thriving and prospering brought tears of happiness to Aang's eyes. His tears streamed down his face and he didn't even bother to wipe them away. He fell to his knees and thanked the Spirits.

"It's the Avatar!" One of the villagers shouted. They dropped the basket of clothing they been carrying. "Look everyone, Dawa is holding hands with the Avatar!"

The villager's cry brought people out from their houses and surrounding buildings.

"The Avatar!" Another villager shouted.

Aang rose to his feet as a crowd quickly formed around him.

"Its the Avatar." The villagers kept whispering among themselves.

"Kuchen, hurry! Go and find Dolma." An older woman who was bouncing a fussy baby on her hip yelled to a young man with purple airbending tattoos. "Tell her what's happened. She must know that the Avatar is here!"

Kuchen nodded and pushed his way through the crowd of people and took of running.

Aang couldn't help but stare at the young man's arrows. He had never heard of any airbenders having purple arrows, but every airbender he saw had the same purple tattoos. What was going on?

* * *

 

"Katara sweetie would you like some breakfast?" Her mother asked.

"Sure mom, need any help?"

"Yes, could you go make a fire so that I can boil some water?"

Katara nodded and grabbed a pair of spark rocks. She tapped them together over the kindling in the hearth and a fire immediately roared to life. The flames were bigger and hotter than any flames she had ever seen before in her life. The intensity of them forced her to stand back several feet.

"Katara, what's happening?" Her mother yelled.

"I don't know." She yelled back. "Something is wrong with the fire!"

The flames leapt out of the hearth and crawled up the walls of their house and spread across the roof. The heat was so intense that it felt as if it were melting off her skin. She tried to run to her mother and help her out of the house, but the flames were everywhere now. The flames completely surrounded her. She tried to yell for her mother but she breathed in too much of the thick acrid smoke and started choking instead.

Katara woke with a start. A dream! It had all been a dream, but the fire that surrounded their camp was very real. They were being attacked. The others had woken up and were realizing that someone had surrounded their camp with a ring of fire. Katara looked around for the source of the fire and it wasn't long before she found it.

Master Piandao, Jeong Jeong, Pakku, and King Bumi were all looking down at them from the cliff above.

"Well, look who's here." King Bumi said as if he wasn't surprised to see them, and knowing King Bumi he probably wasn't.

Jeong Jeong dispersed the flames and the two groups walked up to meet each other.

"What's going on?" Toph wanted to know. "Were surrounded by old people?"

Katara sighed inwardly. Toph had all the tact of a rabid hog monkey. "These aren't just any old people. Katara explained. "These are masters and great friends of ours." She walked up to her waterbending master. "Pakku." She said by way of introduction and bowed to him.

"It is respectful to bow to an old master, but how about a hug for your new grandfather?" Pakku asked and held out his arms.

"That's so exciting!" Katara cried and gave Pakku and unrestrained hug. She could hear her brother let out an ecstatic cry behind her. "You and gran-gran must be so happy you found each other again." She said as she stepped out of his embrace.

"I made her a new betrothal necklace an everything." He informed her.

Sokka enthusiastically threw himself into Pakku's arms and squished his face against Pakku's face. "Welcome to the family gramp-gramp."

"You can still just call me Pakku." He said and pushed her brother away from him.

"How about Gran-Pakku?" Sokka bartered.

"No."

Her brother walked away from Pakku with his head down and his feelings hurt.

"And this was Aang's first firebending teacher." Katara explained to Zuko.

"Jeong Jeong." The firebending master said and bowed to the Fire Prince out of respect.

Zuko smiled back.

Katara knew Zuko well enough to know that it meant the world to be on a first name basis with such a legend. In fact he seemed to be shock to have earned Jeong Jeong's respect, but she was willing to bet that Jeong Jeong saw Zuko as just as much of a legend.

Sokka seemed to have recovered from is disappointment and bowed to his teacher. "Master Piandao."

Master Piandao bowed back. "Hello, Sokka."

"So wait, how do you all know each other?" Suki asked.

"All old people know each other. Don't you know that?" King Bumi joked.

Master Piandao gave King Bumi an amused look before answering Suki's question. "We're all part of the same ancient secret society. A group that transcends the division of the four nations."

Katara noticed that while the group transcended the division of the four nations it didn't seem to transcend the division of the sexes, because as far as she could tell it was made up of all men. She would have to talk to them about it. A group like that could certainly benefit from having women as members, and Chunhua would be a perfect addition.

"The order of the white lotus." Zuko said.

"That's the one." King Bumi said.

"The white lotus has always been about philosophy, and beauty and truth." Jong Jong explained. "About a month ago, a call went out that we were needed for something important."

'"It came from a Grand Lotus, your Uncle, Pakku said to Zuko who smiled, Iroh of the Fire Nation."

"Well that's who we're looking for." Toph exclaimed.

"Then we'll take you to him." Master Piandao said.

"Wait, someone's missing from your group. King Bumi said. He looked around their group as if he couldn't surmise who wasn't there. "Someone very important. Where's Momo?" He stepped right up to Sokka shamelessly invading his personal space.

"He's gone and so is Aang." Her brother answered. He had nearly fallen over in his efforts to get away from King Bumi who still wasn't showing any respect for Sokka's personal space.

"Oh well, so long as they have each other I'm sure, King Bumi patted Sokka (who was still leaning back) on the shoulder, we have nothing to worry about. Let's go." The Earth King bent himself over a surrounding wall laughing like a drain the entire time.

Everyone else followed along on foot. Katara was surprised that Toph didn't take the King Bumi route and earthbend herself over the wall.

"Well, here we are. Welcome to old people camp." King Bumi announced.

Katara looked around "old people camp." It sat down in a cul de sac. The tents of the people who stayed there were set up outside the walls of Ba Sing Se. Everything seemed comfortable enough.

"Where,where is he?" Zuko asked.

Katara could feel Zuko's chi. It was pushing out on his chest. Filling him up like an overfull wineskin ready to burst.

"Your Uncle's in there, Master Piandao pointed to a tent roughly three feet away, Prince Zuko."

Zuko sat down in front of his uncle's tent and as he did he felt like his heart dropped into the soles of his feet. The moment he both dreaded and longed for was here. His uncle, the man who had been a real father to him, was on the other side of the tent. His heart beat so loudly in his chest that he could hear it in his ears. He wiped his sweaty palms on his thighs and ignored the fact that they were shaking. Finally he took a deep breath and pushed himself up from off the ground and walked over to his uncle's tent stopped half way there and sat back down.

More than anything he wanted to run into his uncle's tent fall on his knees and say he was sorry over and over and over again. He would say sorry until he lost his voice if that meant his uncle would forgive him, but he couldn't go into the tent because he didn't want to hear his uncle say that he wasn't forgiven. He was almost entirely convinced that his uncle wouldn't forgive him. Only the tiniest thread of hope was keeping him from unraveling. There were more reasons for his uncle not to forgive him than there were to forgive uncle certainly didn't have to follow him all this way. He had hardly been a joy to be around for most of their journey together. Sure he could say that he was hurting so he hurt others, but so was his uncle. Zuko had never once stopped to think of the incredible pain losing a son had caused his uncle. The years may have passed, but he was still mourning the loss of his own son, and he had put all of his pain aside just to help his ungrateful brat of a nephew.

Zuko's inner voice kept whispering every single hurtful word he ever shouted at his uncle. He had called his uncle, lazy, jealous, old, and crazy. He had called his uncle pretty much every name under the sun, and yet his uncle had never called him out of his name in retaliation. His uncle stayed by his side when no one else would even claim him. The look of hurt and disappointment on his uncle's face seemed to be painted on the back of Zuko's eye lids. Whenever he thought of the look on his uncle's face he thought of a man being torn apart, but only now did he realize it was because for his uncle it was like losing another son.

For all intents and purposes Iroh was his father. Iroh loved him like a father loved a son, and he'd ruined that. Even if he could work up the courage to go into his uncle's tent he wasn't sure that he'd be able to speak. How had he forgotten all the happy times on the beach at Ember Island? As a child Zuko was hyper and curious. Everything excited him. There was so much in the world and as a child he always felt like he'd never grow up fast enough to experience it all. He asked questions often, wandered off when something fascinated him, and couldn't contain his excitement when he got interested in something new. This was not the type of behavior that his father liked. Not even in his own child. At the age of three Zuko got the sense that there was a part of him that was so wrong that his father couldn't love so he buried that part of himself whenever he was around his father, but whenever he was with his uncle he felt free to let that part of his self out.

"Are you OK?" Katara asked. She came and sat down beside him in the grass.

"No, I'm not okay." He started to shake all over, but hoped that it wasn't visible enough for Katara to see. He just needed to hear his uncle's voice again. He needed to see him, but he couldn't move. The fear of his uncle never wanting to speak to him was too great, or maybe the fear of knowing he deserved having his uncle never speaking to him again was greater. "My uncle hates me, I know it. He loved and supported me in every way he could, and I still turned against him. How can I even face him?"

"Zuko, you're sorry for what you did, right?"

"More sorry than I've been about anything in my entire life." He felt on the verge of tears again, but if he cried now he wouldn't be able to stop. He wouldn't be able to compose himself in front of his uncle.

"Then he'll forgive you." She lifted her shoulders as if what she had to say was a matter of fact. "He will."

Katara seemed so sure that Zuko started to believe her. She had forgiven him for all of the awful inexcusable things that he did. She didn't just forgive him she was in a relationship with him. She was the first one in the group to really see him for who he was. Just like his uncle she was able to see a part of himself that even he couldn't see. Would his uncle still be able to see that part of him or had he burned that bridge into the ground?

He couldn't sit outside of his uncle's tent forever. Sooner was better than later. He pulled himself up to his feet. As he pushed the flaps to his uncle's tent open he felt sick. Just because Katara believed that his uncle would forgive him didn't mean that he would. He wanted to turn around and run back out of the tent. How could he expect that his uncle would just forgive him?

"Uncle." Zuko began. What were the right words to convey how sorry he was?

His uncle's loud snores ripped through the tent. He was sleeping. His uncle was asleep. Zuko smiled. Just to see his uncle again even if he was sleeping. Even if his uncle couldn't see him it felt like a gift from the Spirits. He sat and waited for his uncle to wake up. It was the very least that he could do after all that his uncle had done for him. Part of him felt relieved that his uncle was asleep. It would give him more time to think of what to say. More than anything he wanted his uncle to know how sorry he was for what he had done. He didn't want his uncle to hate him.

Katara wished that she had super hearing. Or that she could see through walls.

"Stop pacing." Sokka said. He was sitting in the grass with his back propped up against a huge rock. He was studying a map of the Earth Kingdom. Suki stood several feet away from him practicing her fighting maneuvers. Katara watched Suki for a few minutes. She was glad they were friends because she'd never want to get into a physical altercation with her.

"I can't help it. I'm nervous." She knew that Iroh would forgive Zuko, but she still wanted to know what was going on inside of the tent.

"Why don't you feed Appa." Her brother suggested. "That'll keep your mind occupied."

Katara was about to open her mouth and say something rude to her brother, but she realized that he was right. She could use a distraction.

"Bumi fed Appa when he fed Flopsie." Toph said.

"Oh, well whatever." Sokka said and waved his hand dismissively and went back to reading his map.

Suki stopped practicing her fighting maneuvers. "Want to go for a walk?"

"OK."

Katara followed Suki. They passed a giant green lizard that looked faster than a whip. It eye balled them with huge green yellow eyes.

"That thing probably eats bugs, right?" Suki asked.

"I think we're safe." Katara said. "Looks too skittish to be a people eater."

"Good. If I'm going to die I'd rather die fighting."

Katara stopped walking and turned to face Suki. "You're not going to die!" She said and grabbed her by the shoulders. "None of us are going to die!" She gave Suki a shake.

Suki laughed and stepped out of Katara's arms. "OK, I'm not going to die."

"You'd best believe Yue you're not."

"I still don't feel it." Suki said. "I don't feel like any of this is real, I mean I know it's real. I'm even scared, but at the same time it doesn't feel real. Do you know what I mean?"

Katara nodded. "It's like I'm feeling too much of everything so I'm not really feeling anything at all."

Suki smiled. "That's it. That's the feeling. I had that same feeling the first time I saw Aang airbend. I never thought the Avatar would come back let alone visit Kyoshi Island. If someone would have told me a year ago that I'd be here today I'd probably would have laughed in their face."

"Me too, but now I can't imagine my life without any of you in it. It's like we've all been friends for years and not months."

"Sokka invited me to visit the South Pole, but you have to come visit me on Kyoshi Island."

"I'd love to."

"By then all the other Kyoshi Warriors will be out of jail and you can meet them. I've been dying for all of us to meet."

"I'd love that. You know Toph's idea for a party at the Fire Nation Palace isn't a bad idea."

"A party for the four nations to celebrate the end of the war. You should talk to Zuko about it, or maybe Iroh."

"I think I will." Katara said.

When they got back to their area Zuko was still inside of Iroh's tent.

"He's still in there?" Katara wined.

"Yup." Sokka said without even looking up from his map.

"I'll start on lunch." Suki said while Katara looked up at Iroh's tent and tried to imagine how the reunion going on behind it was playing out.

As his uncle woke up with a yawn and a stretch Zuko felt like he'd become aware of everything around him. Up until now he'd been trapped in the world of his own mind but now the sights and sounds of the real world came back to him. This was happening. This was it. This was his one shot. He began to tremble and sweat as a wave of nausea hit him so strongly that he thought he might throw up.

His uncle must have sensed his presence and he turned around to see who was in the room with him, and upon seeing that it was his nephew he turned back around.

"Uncle." Zuko began. It was hard talking to his uncle's back. It was even harder knowing that he had hurt his uncle so much that he couldn't even look him in the eyes. It hurt but Zuko knew he deserved it. "I know you must have mixed feelings about seeing me, but I want you to know, his voice cracked and the tears that he'd been holding back burst out of him like a dam. He had wanted to keep his composure. He had wanted to be strong but it just hurt too much. Everything that he'd been holding inside, the fear, the regret, the shame came bleeding out of him.

"I am so, so, sorry, Uncle. I am so sorry and ashamed of what I did." He felt like he had just broken into a million and one pieces that could never be put back together. He could never express to his uncle just how sorry he was, but maybe if he could, then just maybe his uncle would forgive him. Spirits how he wished he could make his words come out right."I don't know how I can ever make it up to you, but I'll-."

His uncle both surprised him and shut him up mid apology by grabbing him and pulling him into an unrestrained hug.

"How can you forgive me so easily?" He would have thought his heart would have slowed down at this news, but somehow it beat faster. He had been so afraid of his uncle rejecting him he never gave pause to think about his uncle forgiving him. "I thought you would be furious with me." He expected yelling and cursing. He expected a cold shoulder, or for his uncle to tell him that he never wanted to see him again. He expected some form of punishment, or some kind of requirement, but he had not expected his uncle to cry for him. He had not expected forgiveness.

"I was never angry with you. I was sad because I was afraid you lost your way." His uncle replied.

"I did lose my way." Zuko confessed. There had been times when he didn't even know the way to even lose it, and when he had found his path to the right way he'd been lost along it so many times that part of him still couldn't believe that he was right here right now.

"But you found it again. And you did it by yourself. And I am so happy you found your way here." His uncle said.

"It wasn't that hard, Uncle. You have a pretty strong scent." Zuko admitted.

His uncle laughed heartily and Zuko started laughing too. It felt good to laugh and even better to be laughing with his uncle. His uncle didn't hate him after all. All this time his uncle had believed he would do the right thing, and the only thing that made him sad was thinking that he might not. He should have known. His uncle's love for him was unconditional and he never fully appreciated that until now. His uncle did not expect him to earn his love back because his uncle truly loved him. His father didn't. It hurt him to the very core of his soul to finally realize and accept that fact, but it was true his father's love would always come with terms and conditions. Always.

"I brought my friends with me, and Katara."

His uncle arched an eyebrow. "And Katara, so she is more than your friend?"

"Yes, she's my girlfriend." Zuko smirked. "I had a hallucination of you once and you told me that eventually Katara would see the real me."

"Most importantly you saw the real you, but I am not surprised that Katara saw the real you either. She's a very clever girl." His uncle smiled. "I think the two of you are well suited for one another."

"I think so too." Some of the weight of the world he had felt had been slightly shifted off his shoulders. Now there was only the crushing weight of ending the war and restoring honor to his country, but suddenly he felt a lot more confident in his abilities to do so with his uncle by his side.

When Katara saw him walk out of the tent with his uncle by his side her smile lit up her entire face. She walked up to him and hugged him tightly and then hugged his uncle. "It's good to see you again, General Iroh."

"Please just Iroh, and It is good to see you too."

"Have you had a chance to eat?" Katara asked. "Suki just made lunch."

Iroh patted his stomach. "I always have room for lunch."

"I hope you like crab-shrimp egg Foo Young." Suki said. I made enough lunch to feed everyone at camp."

"He does." Zuko replied and looked around and saw that everyone was sitting around in little groups eating and chatting. His uncle's group had been here for awhile. That was apparent. He walked back to their campsite but felt like he was floating on air. He'd been so weighed down with worry that he almost forgotten what it was like to walk around without the burning pains of shame and guilt.

"Good to not see you again, General Iroh." Toph said.

Iroh chuckled. "Hello, Toph."

* * *

 

This time when the young man with the purple tattoos came back he didn't have to push through the crowd. They parted for him like Kyoshi Island. "I'm sorry to have run off, but I had to tell the Council of Elders you were here. Now, are you in need of anything, Avatar?"

Aang shook his head.

"I'm Kunchen it is nice to finally meet you, Avatar."

"Please, call me Aang." Aang said when he finally found his voice to speak.

Kunchen nodded. "Aang, please come to our temple. Dolma, the head of Council of Elders awaits you."

"It would be my honor."

To say that Aang was excited was an understatement. He was beside himself. He was beyond words. He had to walk fast to keep up with Kunchen who was practically running. It had been a long time since he had been around anyone who could move as fast as he could.

There were two airbenders standing outside of the temple. They both had purple tattoos. They were standing still as statues and holding long staffs with sharp steel blades attached to the end. Spears! They had spears out side of an air temple.

"Stand down." Kunchen said.

The two men put their staff's down by their sides and relaxed their stances.

"Why do they have weapons outside of an air temple?" Aang's voice shot up several octaves.

"Like me, they are part of the Airbending Defence."

"The what?"

"The Airbending Defense. We are soldiers."

"Soldiers, like an army?" Aang cried. "You formed an airbender army!?" He threw his arms out to the side.

"Yes we did." Kunchen said staring Aang directly in the eyes, Though his eyes showed no anger his nostrils flared. "I don't think it's anything to be ashamed about. Had you not disappeared for one hundred years the need to form the airbending defence wouldn't have arisen in the first place."

"That is enough, Kunchen." A tall woman said. She had shaven off all of her hair like he had, but like everyone else had purple airbending tattoos. She was wearing robes similar to the robes the monks in his temple wore down to the airbending necklace.

"Hello, you must be Dolma." Aang said and bowed to her.

"I am, and this is my son Kunchen. Come Avatar, we have a lot to speak on."

* * *

 

"Uncle, you're the only person other than the Avatar who can possibly defeat the Father Lord."

Toph impolitely pointed her chopsticks at Zuko. "You mean the Fire Lord."

"That's what I just said." He snapped.

His uncle didn't say anything. He just gave a non-committal. "Hmm."

"We need you to come with us." Zuko pleaded

"No, Zuko. It won't turn out well."

"You can beat him and we'll be there to help." Zuko almost smiled. Was that what is uncle was worried about? That he would have to face Ozai alone. Never. He would never expect his uncle to do that all on his own. If they all fought together they could take his father. He knew it.

"Even if I did defeat Ozai, and I don't know that I could. It will be the wrong way to end the war. History would see it as just more senseless violence, a brother killing a brother to grab power. The only way for this war to end peacefully is for the Avatar to defeat the Fire Lord."

"And then would you come and take your rightful place on the throne?" Zuko asked. His uncle would make a perfect Fire Lord. He would be able to turn his country's reputation around and a lot of people in the Fire Nation never lost their respect for Iroh.

"No. Someone new must take the throne. An idealist with a pure heart and unquestionable honor. It has to be you, Prince Zuko." His uncle said.

"Unquestionable honor? But I've made so many mistakes." How could his uncle think that he could be Fire Lord? He was only sixteen. What did he know about being Fire Lord? He was only learning what the right thing to do was he couldn't be responsible for millions of lives. Besides people in the Fire Nation hated him. People who weren't from the Fire Nation hated him. Who would listen to him? What nation would want a Fire Lord who was always struggling to do the right thing?

"Yes, you have. You struggled, you suffered, but you have always followed your own path, you restored your own honor. And only you can restore the honor of the Fire Nation."

"I'll try, Uncle." When Zuko took the time to think about being Fire Lord it made so much sense it scared him. For so long being Fire Lord was an insular job. His father and his grandfather hadn't bothered to see the world beyond what they could take from it. They didn't see it's people and they certainly didn't converse with them, but he had seen the best and worst of humanity and learned why they had become that way. But for the grace of the Spirits he very well could have ended up the worst of humanity, but he'd been given a second chance. Now the possibilities of what he could do for his country and for the rest of the world as Fire Lord seemed endless. Finally he was beginning to see life beyond the war. He was beginning to see life as a Fire Lord.

"Well,what if Aang doesn't come back?" Toph asked.

"Sozin's Comet is arriving and our destinies are upon us. Aang will face the Fire Lord. When I was a boy, I had a vision that I would one day take Ba Sing Se. Only now do I see that my destiny is to take it back from the Fire Nation so the Earth Kingdom can be free again."

"That's why you gathered the members of the White Lotus."

"Yes. Zuko, you must return to the Fire Nation so that when the Fire Lord falls, you can assume the throne and restore peace and order, but Azula will be there waiting for you."

"I can handle Azula."

"Not alone. You'll need help."

Zuko turned and looked at his girlfriend. "Katara, how would you like to help me put Azula in her place?"

She looked back at him and the corners of her mouth turned up in a wicked grin. "It would be my pleasure."

"What about us? What's our destiny today?" Sokka asked.

Iroh answered Sokka's question with a question of his own. "What do you think it is?"

"I think that even though we don't know where Aang is we need to do everything we can to stop the airship fleet." Sokka said.

"And that means when Aang does face the Fire Lord we'll be right there if he needs us." Toph put in.

"So, how are we going to intercept the airship fleet? Sokka asked. "Zuko and Katara are taking Appa, and the Fire Navy has already got a head start on us."

"Nothing runs faster over land or swims quicker than a giant eel-hound." Master Piandao explained.

Zuko could believe that. The eel-hound Master Piandao was standing next to gave off the feeling of quick zipping movements.

"The airship base is on a small island just off the Earth Kingdom shore. You should be able to intercept the fleet within a day's journey."

"Thank you, Master." Sokka said.

Zuko had every faith that Sokka would be able to stop the airship fleet. He was both more capable than he looked and acted. Not to mention that he had Toph and Suki with him. He felt sorry for the airship fleet. They didn't stand a chance.

"So if I'm going to be Fire Lord after the war is over, what are you going to do?" Zuko asked his uncle.

"After I re-conquer Ba Sing Se, I'm going to re-conquer my tea shop and I'm going to play Pai Sho everyday."

"Goodbye, General Iroh." Katara said and gave his uncle a big hug.

"Goodbye, everyone. Today, destiny is our friend. I know it."

Zuko hugged his uncle.

"I will see you again, Fire Lord Zuko."

"Not if I see you first, Uncle."

His uncle walked away laughing and Zuko watched him go until he couldn't see him any more. He was so happy to have his forgiveness. All he had wanted since the moment he had betrayed him was his uncle's forgiveness.

* * *

 

A feast had been prepared in Aang's honor. Aang was seated at a table with Dolma, her husband Tenzin, and her son Kuchen. All of his favorite airbender dishes were there laid out on the table. Just the smell of them made him feel as if he were back home at the Southern air temple. There were all his favorites, lemon grass soup, vegetable lo mein, and sticky rice. He eyed the little plates of sweet buns and moon cakes. His stomach growled loudly. He hadn't realized how hungry he was. It had been awhile since he'd eaten anything.

"Please, young Avatar, help yourself to anything you'd like." Dolma said.

Aang went down the long table and grabbed a little bit of everything. It had been so long since he'd eaten any air nomad food. He didn't even know how much he had missed it until now. Once he made himself a nice sized plate and sat down everyone else began serving themselves. The food tasted even better than it smelled. Even better than he remembered the monks preparing it back at the Southern air temple, but that probably was because it was one hundred years since he'd had any air nomad cuisine. Tears started to form in the corners of his eyes. He was eating air nomad food that was prepared by air nomads. If he tried for the rest of his life he wouldn't be able to describe the way he felt in this moment.

After Aang gorged himself on every single dish he looked around the long table, and he saw nothing but people who looked like him. He saw his culture that he thought had been long ago wiped out. Even though he was surrounded by friends Aang had often felt lonely. He loved his friends dearly, but they weren't nor could they ever be substitutes for an entire way of life. How could they? None of them knew where he was coming from. None of them knew what it was to be an air nomad. None of them had to live with the horror of thinking you were the last of your kind.

"How? Aang asked "Did you manage to survive?"

"I could ask you the same question." Dolma said.

Aang wiped his mouth off with a napkin before speaking. "I was frozen in an iceberg. A brother and sister from the Southern Water tribe found me. We've been traveling around the world on my sky bison trying to put an end to the war. I'm also traveling with an Earth bender named Toph, A Kyoshi warrior named Suki, and Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation."

"You're traveling with the prince of the Fire Nation?" Kunchen asked. His face showed no signs of anger. He was too shocked to be angry.

"He's on our side." Aang replied calmly even though he felt anything but. "If it weren't for Prince Zuko our group wouldn't be here now. I wouldn't be here now."

"Kunchen if you cannot control yourself I will have to ask you to leave." Tenzin warned.

"Sorry father." Kunchen said.

"So how did the airbenders survive?" Aang asked again.

"You can credit that to my great, great, great grandmother Yangchen. She was named after her great great grandmother, Avatar Yangchen."

Aang's mouth dropped open.

"After the Fire Nation attacked a few Airbenders from the Eastern Temple managed to escape to the Western Temple. They warned Yangchen of the Fire Nation's attack and it gave the temple enough time to evacuate before the Fire Nation showed up."

"That explains why the Western Air temple was untouched."

"Was untouched, does it still stand?" Dolma's eyebrows shot straight up to the top of her head.

"Yes, it's still standing. There was a recent attack, but the Western Temple is still in good shape."

Dolma began to cry and Aang began to cry for her.

"I protected the Western temple as much as I could."

"Thank you Avatar. I've always dreamed of seeing Yangchen's temple."

"Yes, thank you Avatar." Kunchen said as tears silently streamed down his cheeks. "I too have always wanted to see the Western Air Temple."

"I'll take you there. I'll take you to all the air temples."

"Really? "Kunchen's face lit up. "Thank you. I've always wanted to see the mainland."

"You will." Dolma said. All of us will after the war. We survived this long for a reason."

"If you don't mind, Aang asked, would you mind finishing telling me how you survived? If it's too hard for you I'll understand."

"No it's OK Aang. Talking about it is hard but it also helps." Dolma dried her eyes took a deep breath and picked up her story where she had left off.

"When the Fire Nation reached the Western temple everyone was already gone. The survivors had escaped on sky bison's and flew for four days straight. Yangchen feared that if they stopped the Fire Navy would find them. Eventually they settled in the Earth Kingdom. Our great, great, great grandparents lived in caves, and only left the caves when they had no other choice. They weren't sure if they'd survive the winter that was coming. Food was hard to come by and they had little else other than the clothes on their back. Everyone was losing hope, everyone but Yangchen. She meditated for three days and three nights. For three nights she called upon the Spirits and on the third night something lead her out to sea. Out to the Sea Turtle Lion. Whatever that feeling was she said that she couldn't have fought it if she wanted to."

"I know the feeling." Aang said.

Dolma smiled at him. "When my great grandmother told the Sea Lion turtle the airbenders' story The ancient Spirit took pity upon us and offered us asylum. He traveled far beyond the reach of where the Fire Nation could go. Into the Spirit World."

"There other airbenders living in the spirit world?" Aang asked.

"Yes, the sea turtle lion is only home to the airbending defence. All the airbenders who live in the Spirit World are pacifist. We aren't. Which is why we chose to only live on this island."

"This must be why I felt drawn to this place. I was lead here so that I could find you."

"So Sozin's comet is upon us once again." Tenzin said.

"Yes, it's why I came here. I need to find away to defeat the Fire Lord without taking his life. Everyone wants me to kill Fire Lord Ozai, but there has to be another way."

Dolma smiled. "Then you were lead here, Avatar. Because as it is I happen to know a way you can defeat the Fire Lord without taking his life."

* * *

 

"Katara, you have to let go." Sokka said.

"I know. Katara said and hugged her brother tighter. Just not yet, OK?"

"OK."

After what probably seemed like an eternity to Sokka Katara finally let her brother go. She turned to Toph next.

"I know you're going to kick butt, but please be safe."

"Oh you know I'm coming back. I'm the only one in our gang who can put you in your place."

She hugged Suki next. "I'll come visit you. I promise."

"I'd like that, and don't worry I'll keep those two safe."

"I know you will."

They both started crying at the same time and then started laughing at the same time. What if this was the last time they were all together like this? There was so much that she wanted to say, but the words didn't seem enough.

"I love you all." She had to say it. She wanted them to know if they knew nothing else that she loved them.

"Group hug." Zuko said and held out his arms.

Katara nodded. She was too over come to speak. Zuko had found his own way to tell everyone he loved them.

"Party at the Fire Palace after all this is over?" Toph asked.

"How about tea at the Jasmine Dragon?" Zuko offered.

"Even better." Toph said and folded her arms across her chest.

"We have to leave now if we want to stop that airship fleet in time." Sokka said gruffly. "See you after the war."

Katara nodded and watched her brother, Suki, and Toph mount their eel-hound. She wanted to remember this moment forever.

"We've got to get going too, Katara." Zuko said. "Azula is probably at the Palace or on her way there."

Katara nodded. There was nothing else to do but leave. All of their bags were packed away on the back of Appa's saddle. She had to have faith that they woul d all see each other again.

Katara sat next to Zuko who took up Appa's reins and flew them away from old people camp, and even though she knew she shouldn't Katara couldn't help but look back.

"We won't make it to the Fire Nation Palace without having to stop for a break." Zuko said. "I thought we could make a pit stop out in that field we stayed in when we went to find Yon Rah."

Katara nodded. "Where do you think Aang is?"

Zuko shrugged. "Maybe he's at one of the Air Temples. Could be that he needed to go some place that felt like home."

"I shouldn't have yelled at him. I couldn't kill Yon Rha and part of me really wanted to, but it's not that easy to kill someone."

"You're right it isn't. I could have killed my father on the day of black sun, except that I couldn't. He's my father, and even after everything that he's put me through I still couldn't kill him. I wish I could say that I hate him. That would make everything easier. but I don't know if I have it in my heart to hate him, but I hate what he's doing to the world. I hate everything he stands for."

"It's not wrong for you to love your father, Zuko. It's not even wrong to still want him to love you."

"You don't think it makes me some sort of sad sycophant?' Zuko looked into Katara's eyes with a slightly desperate look. He was checking to see if she was listening to what he was saying and not just hearing him speak. It wasn't even something that he was aware that he was doing it was just something that Katara had picked up on.

"No. I think it makes you a real person."

"Killing is hard, but it won't be for my father. He will kill Aang if Aang can't find a way to stop him, and after he's killed Aang he'll kill anyone who stands in between him and his master plan."

"Then we'll stop your father." Katara said. "It won't come to that, but if it does we'll stop him. No matter what the outcome I'll never give up."

"Neither will I. Even if that means I have to die taking my father down."

"You're going to have to be Fire Lord, Zuko. There's no getting out of it."

Zuko smirked at Katara. "O.K., you've talked me down. You really think I'll make a good Fire Lord?"

"Yes. Besides you won't have to do it alone, Zuko. You'll have your uncle's help. You'll have my help and our friends help. The white lotus will help."

"Good, because I'm going to need all the help I can get. I get excited and nervous thinking about it. Mostly nervous. Look at how I have to take the crown. Won't people still see that as more senseless violence? Won't they still see siblings trying to kill each other to grab power?"

"Some people might, but most people will see it as you fighting for change. If Azula becomes Fire Lord it would be worse than if your father did. We have to stop her so that you can rule the Fire Nation the way it needs to be ruled."

"I know I just wish it didn't have to end like this. Azula and I learned from the knee that a parent's love was to be earned and not freely given. Azula's always been cruel and manipulative, but she's always been manipulated."

"So were you." Katara said.

"So then why are we on opposite sides of the same war?"

"You're both on opposite sides of this war because of the choices you made."

"I know that, I guess, but it's just a bitter pill to swallow. They want me dead, Katara. My sister and my father want me dead." Zuko's shoulders slumped and it was like watching his heart break. He brought Appa down for a landing and without a word he began getting the supplies they needed for dinner down from Appa's saddle. Dusk was rapidly falling so the two worked quickly to set up camp. Since the bedrolls doubled up as seats they sat theirs beside each other just as they had done the last time they were in this same field.

"Would you mind chopping up some onions and mushrooms?" Katara asked. For their dinner Katara was going to make the same soup of rice, blubbered seal jerky, and wild onions and mushrooms as she did the first time they had stopped in the field.

"Sure. Then I'll make us some tea."

Katara began adding the blubbered seal jerky to the pot of now boiling water. Zuko began chopping the mushrooms and onions while she continued to add jerky to the pot creating the broth base for the soup.

"The vegetables are done." Zuko said.

Katara looked over at the vegetables that Zuko had chopped, they were neatly diced in equal sizes, spaced evenly apart, and formed in perfect squares.

"I'll start the tea now." Making tea still seemed to be the one thing that gave him peace. Even if only for the briefest of moments. Katara was glad for that. Being compassionate and comforting others came naturally to her but even in situations like this she didn't know what to say.

Zuko sat down on his bedroll next to Katara and she held out her hand and took the cup of tea that he offered her.

"Why did you offer to heal my scar? That Spirit water was so powerful. Powerful enough to save Aang's life, but you were going to use it on me and you didn't even know me. Why?"

"I don't know. I felt something for you in that moment. You told me that you were free to determine your own destiny, but you'd never be free of your scar, I wanted you to be free. It's not anything that I could put into word's, but the moment you told me about your mother I felt a connection to you. That's why your betrayal hurt me so much. You were being sincere, but I didn't know. I truly believe that you liked war and violence because why else would anyone be that sincere and open one minute, and then turn evil and completely ruthless the next minute unless their sincerity was an act, but now I know why you were so determined to capture Aang."

"I'm not making excuses for myself, but when Azula said that if I helped her capture Aang I'd have my father's love I believed her. The one thing I've always wanted but never had is my father's love. I thought the only reason he didn't love me was because I'd been dishonorable and all I'd have to do was prove that I was honorable enough to love. That's all it took for me to be lead astray from the right path. " Zuko gave a short laugh."If only I knew back in Ba Sing Se what I know now everything would be different."

"Things might have still turned out this way." Katara said.

"No. Somethings would definitely be different. I'd of had enough sense then to realize that I was falling in love with you."

"What?"

"I love you Katara."

Zuko was never sure if he'd be able to know what love was when it was bestowed upon him having lacked so little of it in his life, but the love he'd been shown by his mother, his uncle, and now his friends and Katara, had enabled him to know what love was. He knew that he loved Katara like he knew the sun would rise tomorrow. He loved her and he knew that he always would. He wanted her to know whether she felt the same way about him or not.

"I love you too." Katara said. "I've been all over the world and I've met all kinds of people, and still the only person I want to be with is you, Zuko."

Love wasn't complicated. Zuko thought. It was lightning in a bottle. It was all the pieces falling into place. It was knowing that you had something so rare, but so perfect that you had to protect it for all that it was worth and hold on to it forever. Love was a natural state of being. Like water, earth, air or fire. Love was just naturally occurring in the universe. Love wasn't complicated. People were. They tried to rush love. Tried to force love to bend to their will. They substituted the idea of love for the real thing. They tried using love as a weapon, but love was not something that you could demand, command, or buy. You couldn't conquer it. Which is why a man like his father had no respect for love.

"I'm glad I didn't get the chance to heal your scar." Katara said.

"Me too. Yesterday I looked at my face in the mirror and I didn't see a scar anymore. I just saw a part of myself, a different part of myself albeit, but still a part of me. It wasn't the thing sitting on my face. It wasn't a mark of banishment. It's more like a before and after."

"Maybe that's what all scars are. Some scars leave marks you can see and others you can't see, but they all work as markers in our life to before and after moments."

"This feels strangely therapeutic. Guess this is the calm before the storm." Zuko said and looked up at the fiery orange sky.

Katara didn't say any thing, but she knew what Zuko meant. She felt calm too, later on today all hell would probably break loose, but as of right now she felt all right with the world.

"What do you call this soup anyway?"

Katara shrugged. "I don't know. Last minute soup? Constellation soup? Field trip soup? Take your pick."

Zuko thought about it for a moment. His brow dipping in thought. "Last minute trip soup!" Zuko looked up at her his face the perfect picture of guilelessness. She couldn't help but giggle. He was proud. So proud of the name he'd come up with for her soup that she was proud of it too.

"Why are you laughing at me?" Zuko asked defensively.

"I"m not laughing at you. I'm laughing because you're just you, and I was just thinking of what an honor it is to know you. Idealistic, pure hearted, honorable you."

"Oh." Zuko blushed and then scratched the back of his neck even though it didn't itch. "Between the two of us you've got the purer heart. You've got the purest heart of anyone I've ever met. You're still able to see the beauty in people and the world after everything you've been through."

"Funny, that's one of the things I love about you is how much you love the world." Katara said. "You've never lost your love for the world and all that it could be."

"I never noticed all that beauty when I was looking for Aang. I never noticed anything that didn't have to do with the Fire Nation until I started living as a refugee. It made me realize how truly privileged I was growing up, yes I was unhappy, but so were lot of other people and they didn't even have one third of the things that I had growing up. I never had to stop and think about where my next meal was coming from. I didn't worry about how to keep a roof over my head. I didn't care how other people got the bare necessities for living until I traveled the world. When I become Fire Lord I'm going to give back what my grandfather and father took from the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes. I'll assist Aang however I can in rebuilding the air temples, and I'm going to help Chunhua turn Taku into the medical epicenter it once was, and give the jobs to all the refuges that have been displaced because of the war."

"You see, your uncle is right. It's you who should be Fire Lord." Katara said.

"That means one day you'll be Fire Lady. You ready for that?"

"As long as your with me."

"Always."

The idea of marrying Katara didn't seem any stranger than being in love with her. He had found his equal in her. "So, future Fire Lady, after I fulfill my duties to my country what is your first request of me?" Zuko teased.

"I'd love it if the Fire Lord would come visit me at the South Pole. Not as a friend this time, but as my boyfriend." Katara said.

"I'd love that actually." Zuko was interested in seeing where Katara had grown up. She had spoken of her home with such fond memories it almost seemed too good to be true.

"I want to tell gran-gran and my dad about us and I want you to see what my village is like when you're not holding it under siege."

Zuko's eyebrow furrowed. That was the only dragonfly in the ointment. How would the Southern Water tribe receive him? How would her family receive him? Just because Katara was his girlfriend and Sokka had forgiven him didn't mean that her father or her gran-gran would. He couldn't imagine Hakoda welcoming him with open arms. He couldn't imagine Hakoda looking at him as a son the same way he did Sokka. It was what he wanted. It was what he wanted more than anything, but he couldn't imagine it happening. There had been so many times back at the Western air temple when he had been jealous of Sokka's relationship with his father. Hakoda was the type of father that he had always wished his own father would turn into.

"Show me how you redirect lightning." Katara said. She could feel him withdrawing from her and into himself. His chi was pulling back like a wave from a shore. The closer to the showdown with Azula the faster the windmills of her mind spun. She felt like withdrawing into her overwhelming thoughts too, but this was not the time to withdraw from one another. This was not the time to shut down. They needed to be close. Of one mind almost.

"Hun?"

"You said your uncle got the move by studying waterbenders so show me redirection as if it is a waterbending form."

Zuko stepped in front of Katara so that they were face to face. He traced his hands over her body in the movements needed to redirect lightning. From the tips of her finger, down her arm, across her shoulder, and down her stomach and then up her arm and out the tips of the fingers on her other hand. Zuko did the movements along with her. Finger tips, shoulder, stomach, and then finger tips again. It was like they were dancing without touching. Their movements were in perfect sync. They stepped closer to each other still in perfect sync with one another. Finger tips, shoulder, stomach, and then finger tips again. Again they stepped closer to each other. Their movements were still perfectly mirroring each others. Finger tips, shoulder, stomach, and then finger tips again. The gap between them closed. Zuko pulled Katara into him. Her lips were soft like petals. He was always amazed at how soft her skin and lips were. He worked her mouth open slowly. He wanted to take his time kissing her. His fingers ghosted over the soft hairs on the back of her neck and she shivered against him as he slid his fingers into her hair. He curled the strands around his fingers.

Katara stood up on the tips of her toes and kissed Zuko harder. Her hands traveled up the fabric of his robe. Even though it was worn and the color faded the silk still felt smooth beneath her hands. The muscles in Zuko's chest twitched like a live wire wherever she touched him. Her hand cupped the side of his face and she ran her thumb down his jaw line. His breath hitched he gripped the fabric of her dress, and even though it seemed as if there wasn't an inch to spare between them, Zuko pulled her even closer into his body. Katara couldn't help but moan. The closer the proximity of Zuko's body to hers the more she forgot about all space and time. All she could think of was how good his body felt pressed up against her or how she felt every time their lips parted and then found one another again.

"Katara, Zuko panted, "I need to-we have to stop."

She nodded and stepped back from him.

"I think we should, you know, not rush anything or anything. I mean slower is probably better. For me. For us. For both of us." Zuko wanted to shrink on the spot. His brain and his mouth never seemed to be on the same page. Or the same planet. What was in his brain was perfectly comprehensible what came out of his mouth was not.

"It's OK Zuko, I think you're right. It's not that I don't want to have sex with you, I'm not ready, not ready by a long shot."

"Neither am I."

"Oh, so you and Mai never..." Katara trailed off and her cheeks flooded with color.

Zuko's cheeks also burned. "Ah, no. Mai and I never had sex. I've never had sex."

"Oh."

"I thought Mai and I would be together forever, but I think we just clung to each other the way people adrift cling to whatever will keep them afloat, and now that we're not drowning there's no need to cling to each other. When all of this is over I need to find Mai and break up with her. Officially. Face to Face."

"Wait, you two aren't broken up?"

"No we are. I broke up with Mai in a letter. I didn't want to, but it was right before I left the Palace to find Aang, and I didn't want to involve her in all of that."

"I'm sorry that things ended the way they did between the two of you, but I'm not sorry things didn't work out."

"Neither am I. I'm not sorry for the way any of the things worked out in my life. Not anymore. My uncle is right our destinies are upon us and we have no choice but to see them through to the end. Now that I look back on it I see this fight for the throne between me and my sister has to happen. All of my life Azula has always outshined me. She's always beaten me at everything. She's a prodigy and I'm a late bloomer and if I don't stand up to her she will always think she can beat me. This is the only way she'll see I've changed. This is the only way she'll know that our father's way of thinking isn't the right way of thinking. This is the only way she stands a chance of healing and finding the peace I've found."

Katara stood up and bent a jet of water at their camp fire extinguishing it. "And if not this is your one chance to finally knock your sister flat on her ass."

Zuko chuckled and raised his cup of tea. "I'll drink to that." Katara raised her cup and they clinked them together and finished up the last of their tea.

The pair spent the next few minutes cleaning up their campsite. Appa had rested up enough and was ready to go flying again. Zuko didn't feel nervous as he climbed atop of Appa's saddle.

"You ready?" Katara asked.

This was it. The final act on a tragic role he'd been playing for sixteen years of his life.

"Let's do this." Zuko said and gave Appa's reins a flick. In a few short hours he would finally be able to close the curtain on this tragedy.


	13. If I had to choose her or the sun I'd be one nocturnal son of a gun

The entire sky looked as though it were on fire. How fitting Katara thought as she and Zuko made their way towards the Fire Nation to do battle with Azula. Her stomach felt tied up in knots that would take tens of thousands of years to untie. She wasn't so much nervous for herself as she was for everyone else. What was going on with her brother, Suki and Toph? How was Aang? Was he scared? Was he injured? She wouldn't be able to heal him this time if he was seriously injured by Ozai. It was a thought that endlessly plagued her mind with worry.

Zuko looked as if his mind was plagued by worrisome thoughts too. Of course it was. In less than an hour they would be facing Azula. Katara didn't know how Aang was going to be able to beat Ozai, but she prayed that he would not have to compromise himself doing it. She prayed that Zuko wouldn't have to compromise himself either. As much as she hated Azula she didn't want Zuko to have to kill his sister.

"Zuko, don't worry, we can take Azula." She assured him.

"I'm not worried about her, I'm worried about Aang. What if he doesn't have the guts to take out my father? What if he loses?"

"Aang won't lose." She turned and took a surreptitious look at Zuko's face. The worried look on his face had grown even deeper.

"It's not so much Aang as it is my father. If Aang shows any sign of weakness my father will pounce."

"There's more than one way to be strong. I know he seems like a goofy kid-."

"That's because he is a goofy kid." Zuko replied.

"Yeah he is, but you haven't known him as long as I have. I've seen how far he's come and how hard he's trained. I thought you were convinced that Aang could beat your father. Where is this coming from, Zuko?"

"I just don't want Aang to get hurt by another one of my family members. We've put him through enough. Maybe that's why he ran away this time. Maybe he's had enough of getting hurt."

"He's gonna come back. He has to."

"If you trust him then I have to trust him."

The Fire Nation Palace's outskirts came into view. Katara's nerves suddenly felt like a hive of Buzzardwasps. The feeling made her sick to her stomach and she pressed her lips together to keep the nauseated feeling in her stomach in check. She and Zuko flew along in silence for a few more minutes. Zuko began bringing Appa down for a landing in the courtyard of the palace. Just as they had suspected Azula had already begun her coronation

"By decree of Phoenix King Ozai, I now crown you Fire Lord..." The Fire Sage who was officiating the coronation was saying, but he stopped talking and looked up to the sky to see that Appa was about to make a touchdown in the Fire Palace courtyard.

"What are you waiting for?" Azula demanded of the Fire Sage. "Do it!" Her focus ,as ever it was, was completely on herself. She didn't even notice that they had pulled up on a sky bison.

"Sorry, but you're not going to become Fire Lord today. I am." Zuko pronounced as he jumped down from Appa.

"You're hilarious."

"And you're going down." Katara snapped. She couldn't wait to put the princess in her place. She'd been itching for a rematch ever since they had fought in the crystal catacombs. Back then Zuko had been on his sisters side, but now the tides had turned and Azula was about to be dragged out to shore.

"Wait. You want to be Fire Lord? Fine. Let's settle this. Just you and me, brother. The showdown that was always meant to be. Agni Kai!"

"You're on."

"What are you doing?" Katara asked. She couldn't believe that Zuko was going to play right into Azula's hands. "She's playing you. She knows she can't take us both so she is trying to separate us." Didn't he know by now that they worked better as a team?

"I know. But I can take her this time."

"But even you admitted to your Uncle that you would need help facing Azula." You have your honor. She wanted to scream in his face. There's nothing else left to prove.

"There's something off about her, I can't explain it, but she's slipping, and this way, no one else has to get hurt."

Katara nodded but she had a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach. What Zuko really meant was no one else has to die.

The calm that Zuko had felt before was gone. Now he only felt a sense of grim determination. There was no justice in knowing you might have to fight your sister to the death. How had they come to this point? How had their lives gone so wrong that this was actually happening?

"I'm sorry it has to end this way, brother." Azula said without an ounce of sincerity. She took off her cloak and dropped it on the ground as if it were the only trifle that stood between her and victory.

"No, you're not."

Azula, smirked and then fired the first shot.

Zuko would have expected nothing less of his sister. Azula was pulling out all of the stops for this agni kai. Her firebending was, even for a prodigy, an unparalleled display of her skill. Sozin's comet may as well have been made for her. Her blue flames burned hotter than Zuko had ever felt them burn before in his life. The heat from Azula's flame singed the hairs on his arms, but no matter how hot she burned she couldn't keep that level of arrogance up forever nor the rage behind her arrogance that fueled her firebending.

Zuko dug down deep with in himself and bent out a gigantic flame wall at his sister just as she bent out her flame wall at him. Their flame walls met in the middle and created a towering inferno. The heat thrown off was immense making the summer day swelter and his skin felt as if it were blistering. The sounds of the flames roared so loudly in his ears all the other sounds of nature were drowned out. The air around them turned into a humid swampy soup making Zuko feel as though he were trying to breathe with a wet blanket wrapped around his head. This would literally be a fight to the death if it went on much longer because Azula would rather die than lose to him. She kicked out powerful blue flames at him. One right after another. Her plan, he knew, was to dominate him with the sheer brute force of her bending. There was no creativity or subtlety to his sisters bending. All of his life he'd been too blinded by insecurity and jealousy to notice.

It was an odd thought to have occurred and an even odder thought to continue thinking, but the agni kai between Zuko and his sister was beautiful. The clashing of their blue and orange flames seemed liked a master piece painting that should have been hanging on the wall in a museum. It was the most powerful display of firebending Katara had seen in her life and the majority of it was coming from Zuko. The sheer prowess of Zuko's bending amazed her. He made it all seem so effortless. Azula couldn't get the edge on Zuko and it wasn't from lack of trying.

The columns of flames that Azula bent out at her brother would have undone even a master firebender, but not Zuko. His calmness took Katara's breath away. What Zuko had learned from the dragons not only changed his firebending, but it changed him as well. A fact that Azula had only just learned. His calmness seemed to be making her more sporadic. She had prepared for a slaughter, but this was a showdown. When Zuko's flame wall over powered her own she was unable to keep the shock from her face. She even left herself vulnerable in order to turn around to see the proof of the power of her brother's firebending in the buildings that were burning with his flames. For the first time in her life Azula wasn't guaranteed a victory. Katara smirked. Madame Wu had got it right. She was going to marry a powerful bender.

It was like having an out of body experience watching his sister's frantic and desperate bending. It gave him no pleasure to see her falling apart before his very eyes, but even still neither one of them would give up. Azula brought a huge wall of her blue flames down upon him and the heat from her flames made him feel as though he were confined inside of an oven, but he was able to break her flames. The tides had turned. He could see it in his sister's face. She had not expected this much power from him. He stood above her as she knelt on the ground panting and regrouping. Unable to cope with the fact that he was still standing. He didn't let up. He bent out a dual column of flames at his sister. She hardly had time to get out of the way as his fire rushed past her.

He. Had. Her.

Azula advanced on him. Using her blue flames to propel herself forward and pumping out powerful streams of fire from her fist. Her whole form had changed. No longer was she upright. Her anger was pulling her down into smaller lower more "debase" movements. He propelled himself high into the air with his firebending to avoid his sister's fire fist blast and brought down his own flame wall. Azula managed to adroitly skirt around his flame, but Zuko kept Azula in a low firebending form by staying upright and bending out a ring of fire all around her. Now she had no where else to go. Now this was his fight to lose, and as powerful as his sister was Zuko knew he wasn't going to lose. He knew because Azula had never lost in her life.

She had never lost because she had never let the thought of failure enter her mind, but he had. He had failed spectacularly. He had failed painfully. He had failed publicly. He had failed constantly. He knew what it was to try your hardest and still not have things work out the way you planned them. Failure was a fact of life. Life wasn't a matter of if you failed it was a matter of when you failed. All of his life he struggled to be good enough, but his good was never good enough. Still he never gave up. Never stopped trying. Failure had taught him the value of persistence. Failure had taught him patience. Failure had taught him how to adjust and adapt. Most importantly of all failure had taught him that in some point in their lives everyone falls down.

The spinning flame kick was one of the most basic firebending forms. One that had long ago fallen out of favor with the Fire Nation after his grandfather learned that the form was something a "groveling peasant" had invented. He considered such a form debase, but his uncle had always taught him to stick to his basics. Azula had never learned the basics. Like his Father and his Grandfather she had no respect for them. Well, today he would make her respect those same basics she'd turned her nose up at. It was such a simple movement. Fluid and low to the ground the spinning flame kick was more reminiscent of waterbending than firebending, but power and strength lie in diversity. His debase movement tripped Azula up and she went skittering across the palace floor like a rag doll. The feeling must have been unreal to her. His sister had finally failed.

Katara smirked to herself. Zuko had kicked Azula's ass in epic fashion. She would never be able to live this moment down. Katara would make sure of it.

"No lightning, today? What's the matter? Afraid I'll re-direct it?" Zuko taunted his little sister.

 **"Oh, I'LL SHOW YOU LIGHTNING!** " Azula shouted.

In typical Azula fashion she might have been down, but she wasn't going out without one last grandiose parting shot. She began bending lightning creating the hugest arcs that Katara had ever seen. Her face was twisted in to a visceral mask of hatred and though she was trying to take her and Zuko down a part of Katara felt sorry for Azula. To have that much rage burning inside of you must have been so lonely and exhausting. There was something sick and unrested inside of her. Her chi was like a kettle that kept boiling over and scalding everything, herself included, around it. Azula didn't know how to be at rest. All she knew how to do was burn. Her eyes were so like Zuko's, but without any of the warmth or the depths of compassion that his held. There was only a cold fire burning fiercely behind them. She stared at her brother and then her red lips curled up into a wicked smile. Her eyes lit up with her evil intent and her hands moved like a magician's using a slight of hand trick. Her lightning flew from her fingertips, not at Zuko, but towards her. Directly towards her. Katara couldn't move. There wasn't time. Zuko could redirect lightning but she couldn't. All she could do was stare.

"No!"

Just a split second. That's all it took for his sister to change targets. She pulled her eyes away from Zuko and looked at Katara who was standing behind him. Azula smiled like a cat who had just gotten the cream as she directed her lightning at his girlfriend. A split second was all it took for Zuko to get in the direct path of his sister's lightning. He didn't have time to properly redirect the lightning and he took her lightning almost full force to his chest. Zuko felt rather than saw his body leave the ground. His sister's lightning snaked around his body temporarily blinding him and filling his ears with nothing but loud crackling static. He hit the floor and immediately his extremities drew up into his body as if he were a bug about to die. Just as his sister saw him. As a bug that needed to be squashed. He lie flat on his back unable to move, but Katara was still out there all by herself. Now it was up to her to take out his sister. The comet was giving Azula so much strength it was like sending Katara on a suicide mission.

Katara felt as if the blood in her veins had been replaced with the icy water from the South Pole. She watched in horror as Zuko's body flew through the air illuminated by his sister's lightning. The image seemed to burn itself indelibly upon her brain. He couldn't be dead. Not Zuko.

* * *

 

**Aang**

"You can bend another bender's energy?"

"Yes. In the era before the Avatar, the spirits bent not the elements, but the energy within."

"O.K., but how did you even learn that you could do this?"

"It started when Yangchen began extinguishing firebenders of their flame. It proved to be one of the most powerful bending moves against the Fire Nation."

Aang would have to agree.

"Here on the back of the Sea Lion turtle our bending is stronger and more powerful than it is on the mainland. We're not quite in the Spirit World so we were still able to bend, but the Sea Lion turtle is from the Spirit World and being here gives our bending properties of the Spirit World. When Yangchen extinguished the Firebender's flames she noticed that there was still an energy with in them, like smoke but no fire. Yangchen found that she could bend that energy. Effectively snuffing out a Fire bender's ability to bend at all."

"Amazing."

"It is. Yangchen developed the ability over the years with the help of The Sea Lion Turtle and when she had perfected it she began teaching it to others. When the first airbending student earned her arrows by mastering this technique she shaved her head, but nicked herself. When she did her red blood flowed down from her head and mixed with the blue dye we use for our arrows. It turned the blue dye purple, and that's when Yangchen realized the need for a new kind of airbender. That's when she began The Airbending Defense. The purple comes from mixing our blood with the blue dye, but it also represents the blood of all of the other airbenders who were killed during the one hundred year war. We swear upon the Spirits in a blood oath that we'll do whatever it takes to preserve our people and our way of life. Not to do so would be to dishonor the sacrifice the Sea Lion Turtle made to save the air nomads."

"There's that word again." Aang quipped.

Kuchen scowled at Aang. "You think this is a joke? Ozai's life is not worth that of millions of other people's lives. If you fail to take away Ozai's bending and cannot find another way to defeat him then I will kill him, and if you try and stop me from killing the Fire Lord then I will kill you."

"It's not going to come to that!" Aang shouted. "I'll learn how to take his bending away and defeat him without killing him. Please, I'm ready. Show me what I need to do."

"To bend energy, your own spirit must be unbendable, or you will be corrupted and destroyed." Dolma began.

* * *

 

"Zuko!" Katara screamed. Oh Spirits. Oh Spirits. Oh Spirits. Katara chanted inwardly as she saw Zuko's motionless body lying prone on the palace floor. Incredibly Zuko began to pull himself up from the floor. She ran to him relief flooding through her veins and melting away at the ice water that was still flowing through her. Thank the spirits. Zuko was still alive. A huge bolt of lightning stopped Katara from taking another step forward. Azula. She had almost forgotten about her in her haste to get to Zuko, and Azula nearly struck her down for her forgetfulness.

Pain. Nothing but pain crawling all over every inch of him so that he couldn't even draw a breath. This pain was beyond the pain when his father burned him. This pain bit him with fiery razor sharp teeth then swallowed him whole. The pain wanted to drag him down to death's door and shove whatever was left of his sorry ass through it, but he couldn't let Katara face his sister alone. He tried to pull him self up. Tried to stand up and help Katara against his sister's relentless pursuit, but every single muscle in his body burned in agonizing protest. Pain tore through him so violently he thought he might pass out. He couldn't move. He couldn't block out the pain. He couldn't do a thing to protect himself or Katara and it was all his fault.

If he hadn't of taunted his sister she wouldn't have gone after Katara. She would have bent her lightning out at him and he would have redirected it and then he would have taken her down once and for all, but he had to hurt his sister. He had to get under her skin and now Katara was paying the price. He should have never brought her along with him. He should have just taken his sister on by himself. Zuko would never forgive himself if anything happened to Katara and he would never forgive Azula either. It always had been his intent to end this war with his sister still alive, but if she did anything to Katara, anything at all he wouldn't be sure about his intent anymore.

Katara realized that Azula planned on drawing her as far away from Zuko as possible and then killing her so that she could go back and finish Zuko off. No way. She would never let Azula separate them again.

"I'd really rather our family physician look after little Zuzu if you don't mind!" Azula taunted from her place on the roof of one of the many buildings that surrounded the palace courtyard. She began bending out huge arcs of lightning again. Katara watched for a few second hypnotized by the terrifyingly massive arcs. Even in her madness, Azula was amazing.

Breathe and stay calm. Katara told herself anxiety was making her feel sick and dizzy. Zuko needs you. Azula's just trying to distract you. Don't let her do it. It was easier said than done however when Azula was shooting lightning out at her as if she were a fish in a barrel. Katara had to move fast and seek shelter inside of a pavilion to try and gain the upper hand. She hid behind one of the pavilion's gigantic pillars and after a moment hazard a look out into the courtyard. Zuko was lying still once again. From this far away she couldn't tell if he was breathing or not. She just had to have faith that he was all right. All she had to do was keep Azula away from Zuko long enough to discombobulate her in one fell swoop.

"Zuzu, you don't look so good." Azula's disembodied voice rang out mockingly.

Hang on, Zuko. Katara thought as she watched him lying helplessly in the courtyard. I'm going to get you out of this. I promise.

Azula bent out another bolt of lightning this one damn near stricking her. Katara was forced once again to run and hide behind another one of the huge pillars a few feet away. She looked back at the pillar she had previously been standing behind. It had taken a direct hit from Azula's lightning. The floor around it was charred black and smoke still lingered. The unwelcome smell in her nostrils made her think at once of Zuko. How long could he hold out? How long could she?

Katara's heart was beating so fast that her ears seemed to be filled with nothing but the sound of it pumping her blood. That charred pillar could have been her. That charred pillar would be her if she didn't keep her wits about her. It wouldn't be long now before Azula was completely on top of her. She had to make an offensive move or she would forever be the prey. She looked frantically around for anything that would get her out of this situation. Finally she spotted a fountain filled with water and quickly bent the water up and out at Azula, but as ever was her way, Azula was one step ahead. She had moved down from her spot on the roof and began flying after Katara propelled by her bright blue flames. Katara wouldn't be able to out run her this time so she bent more water out of the same fountain and ice surfed away from her relentless pursuer.

Azula stayed hot on her heels. Never letting up with her onslaught of lightning. Her precisely aimed flames evaporated Katara's ice wave until she had no more water to surf along. Without breaking stride she ran along the ground into another pavilion. This one had an iron grate over the floor and as she fell onto it she noticed that the great was covering a flow of water running beneath it. Finally something was going her way. She looked up and saw a metal chain hanging on the pillar directly in front of her. Yes, things were definitely going her way. She gritted her teeth in determination, launched herself forward, and yanked the chain from the pillar. Zuko's time was running out. She had to end this now.

Azula started walking around the courtyard looking for her. Katara could hear her footsteps. She was walking with no particular great deal of speed probably figuring that there was no need to hurry as she was only up against a waterbender, and there was no way a puny little waterbender could ever beat her. Not Princess Azula of the Fire Nation. Well, we'll just see about that won't we, princess. Katara thought as she stepped out of the shadows into an open space where Azula could see her.

"There you are, filthy peasant!" Azula growled as she walked slowly towards her. Katara stood stock still while grasping the length of metal chain that was hidden behind her back. So blinded by her hatred Azula didn't even notice. Katara narrowed her blue eyes. She had set the trap now the hunter had become the hunted. All she had to do to end this, and save Zuko, was to catch the prey. Azula narrowed her amber eyes back. All she had to do to end this was take two lives. Only one of them would get what they wanted.

At once Katara shot out several whips of water and struck out at Azula's feet. Azula dodged the whips of water easily and rolled herself on to the iron grate; right where Katara wanted her. Her plan couldn't have gone better than if it had been choreographed. As Azula rose to her feet there was, for a brief moment, a look of victorious glee on her face thinking Katara's last desperate final move was to strike at her heels. She stretched her hand out only inches away from Katara's nose ready, no doubt, to fill her with more lightning than the people of the Fire Nation would likely see in their life time. Katara jumped backwards and lifted her arms into the air bringng the water up from the iron grate underneath them in one fell swoop. The most surreal feeling of being trapped in a glass snow globe came over her when she froze the both of them in her ice prison. Slowy she bent out enough breath to thaw out the water around her. She moved quickly to bind Azula's arms behind her back with the chain. Still frozen in place all Azula could do is watch in anger and disbelief as Katara dragged her down towards the iron grate. She secured the chains around the grate then bent out the water that had surrounded them both. With a great roar the water rushed away from them like the tides. Katara gasped for air and once she had caught her breath she gave the metal chain a few good yanks to ensure that Azula wasn't going anywhere.

Please. Please. Please. Let him be alive. Katara begged the Spirits as she ran to Zuko. Oh, please don't let it be too late. She knelt down beside him and noted that he was still breathing. It was a good sign. If she could heal him from a Spirit fever she could heal him from this. Slowly and as gently as she could she turned Zuko over. His clothes had been burned away exposing the sight of the wound. The scar was still fresh and vividly red. It fanned out on his chest like a starburst. She was trembling all over but managed to bend out enough water from her flask to start working on the wound.

Zuko grunted. The pain was growing fainter. His mind clearing. He gritted his teeth and slowly opened his eyes. Katara's smiling face hovered above his. "Thank you, Katara." Zuko said. When his pain had finally subsided to a manageable level.

"I think I'm the one who should be thanking you."

* * *

 

"What? What did you do to me?" Ozai gasped.

"I took away your firebending. You can't use it to hurt or threaten anyone else ever again." Aang said. There had been a few close calls but he had taken down the Fire Lord in his own way. He had followed his heart and it lead him to the greatest gift of all. More airbenders. His lineage and legacy were not over. They were only just beginning.

"So, did you...finish the job?" Suki asked.

"I'm still alive." Ozai informed her.

Suki backed away quickly as if any moment Ozai might start bending fire at her or kill over.

"I learned there was another way to defeat him and restore balance. I took his bending away."

"Wow, who taught you that?" Toph asked.

Aang smirked and looked out across the land. "I had a little help from a giant Lion Turtle and some new found friends." Now was not the time to tell his friend about finding other airbenders. He didn't want Ozai to know anything about them until he was locked behind bars.

"You have the craziest adventures when you disappear." Toph said and folded her arms across her chest.

Sokka limped over to Ozai. "Well, look at you buster. Now that your firebending is gone, I guess we should call you the "Loser Lord".

"I am the Phoenix King!"

"Oh sorry, didn't mean to offend you "Phoenix King of "Getting his butt whupped." Toph snarked.

"Yeah, or how about "King of the guys who don't win." Suki suggested.

"Leave the nicknames to us honey." Toph retorted.

All Aang wanted to do was make sure that Katara and Zuko were all right and then go back to tell the other airbenders that he had defeated the Fire Lord, but he had more pressing matters at hand.

"You just wrote us into the history books." Sokka said and clapped Aang on the back.

"I did, didn't I." Aang said and grinned widely.

"And, Toph added while clapping him on the back so hard he nearly fell over, it only took you a hair over a century, not bad twinkle toes."

* * *

 

They had done it. They had won. Now he was the official Fire Lord of the Fire Nation, but nothing about this victory felt victorious as he watched his sister breaking down in front of him. Her uncontrolled keening and raw screams cut across his skin like knives. He had never seen her this way before. In all their time in living together he had never seen her cry before. It felt obscene to watch her rolling around on the floor and firebending from her mouth as if she were a rabid animal. He would take his sister's pain away if he could, but that was something only she could do, and that was something he feared that she might never do. She was finally feeling all the things that she had been repressing all of her life and the fallout from this day would either cure her or kill her. Was there any hope for Azula? He had long ago lost hope for his father's redemption, but Azula was different, or at least he thought so. When he found their mother he wanted it to be with Azula by his side. She acted as if she didn't care about her mother, but deep down she did, he knew that she did. When the three of them were all back together things would be better, and Azula would finally be able to see that their mother did love her.

"After we take care of your sister we need to get you inside." Katara said softly.

Zuko nodded. "I can't put her in jail. At least not in this mental state. She needs help."

The scuffling of many feet and a flood of voices caused both Zuko and Katara to turn around.

A group of Fire Sages were making their way towards Zuko. "The Fire Lord has been defeated. Long live the Fire Lord!" They cried in unison. "Long live the Fire Lord." They stopped in front of Zuko and bowed to him. "Fire Lord, Zuko."

Katara turned towards Zuko. "So that means-."

"Aang did it!" Zuko cried. He pulled Katara into his arms and hugged her as tightly as his injury would allow.

"I knew that he would, and Sokka, Toph, and Suki must have stopped that airship fleet. There's no way we would be standing here if they didn't."

Zuko turned to the fire sages. "Get the palace guards to take my sister to a secure room with in the war rooms. I want no less then three guards posted outside of her door at all times, but no one is to hurt her. If she starts to become a problem come find me."

The Fire Sages bowed. "Shall we also began the preparations for your coronation?"

"Uh, yes at once."

The palace guards marched out into the courtyard and unchained Azula from the iron grate, but wisely they kept the metal chains tied around her hands. She had stopped crying and didn't even try to resist as the group of guards led her off. Her head hung low and her long black hair concealed her face. Zuko wondered how long it would be before the real Azula was back.

Medical supplies and plants from the royal garden were brought into Zuko's room for Katara to use in her healing session. Once she treated his wound and got him into a comfortable state she called for his doctor. His doctor, Dr. Yamamoto, checked Zuko over thoroughly while Katara waited in the hallway. As soon as she stepped back in the room Dr. Yamamoto smiled at her deeply."Looks as if my help isn't needed here. Young woman you are an amazing talent."

"Thank you."

"No, thank you." Dr. Yamamoto said and left.

"I found out more about the fight between Aang and your father from one of the Fire sages while I was waiting in the hall way." Katara announced.

Zuko opened his half lidded eyes. The pain was gone but he was tired. Katara had given him something that made him drowsy, but she assured him that all of the effects of the potion would ware off in plenty of time for his coronation.

"Is he-? I mean did Aang have to...kill him?" Zuko asked. His voice was slurred from the potion that Katara had given him.

"He's still alive, but Aang took away his bending."

"Aang can do that, how?"

"It's a long story. One I'll tell you when you wake up. Right now you need you're sleep. You're going to need all of your strength for your coronation."

"I still can't believe it. I'm Fire Lord."

"Believe it, and then close your eyes and get some sleep, Fire Lord Zuko." Katara said and kissed him softly on the lips.

Zuko smiled as he closed his eyes. Fire Lord Zuko. After hearing those words from Katara's lips he suddenly liked the sound of that.

Once Katara was sure that Zuko was sleeping soundly she left his room to go find the others. They were probably out in the courtyard. It seemed like everyone was in the Fire Palace courtyard she noticed as she looked around for her brother and their friends. She saw all kinds of familiar faces. The Boulder. Haru and his father. She also spotted. Teo, Pipsqueak, and the Duke. It was good to know that they had all made it out of the war alive. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen this many people from the diffrent nations gathered together for something happy.

"Sokka, are you all right?" Katara cried out when she finally spotted her brother in the crowd. He was bandaged up heavily and walking up to her with a crutch.

"Yeah. I mean I wouldn't turn down a little healing action later, but at least I'm doing a lot better than the Ex Fireless Lord Ozai."

"What about Toph and Suki? Are they OK?"

"Of course. We totally kicked some airship ass."

"Have you seen dad?"

Sokka shook his head. "Not yet, but I've only just started looking."

"Well let's go find him together." Katara suggested. The two began searching the large crowd of people for their father. It was hard when everyone had shown up for the coronnation. She was starting to get fustrated. Where was he? If something had happened to him she would have known. She would have felt it. She kept on searching the massive sea of people her stomach flipping over ever second she didn't find her father. As she and Sokka pushed their way through a group of swamp benders they spotted their father talking to Bato.

"Dad!" Katara and Sokka cried in unison. They ran up to him and hugged him hard.

"I heard what you two did. I am the proudest father in the world. And your mother would be proud too."

Katara touched her mother's necklace. Her eyes welled up with tears, but they were happy tears. "Mom would be proud of you too, dad." Katara said.

"Sugar Queen! You made it!" Toph shouted. A second later she was picking Katara up in a bone crushing hug. As soon as Toph set her down Suki gave her a hug, but with out crushing any of her vital organs.

"Where's Zuko?" Toph wanted to know. She was standing next to Suki, and the other Kyoshi Warriors who were fully suited up. They must have been fighting to stop the Fire Nation too. This victory didn't just belong to Team Avatar. It belonged to everyone who fought along side them.

"Recovering. Azula bent lightning at me, and Zuko stepped in the way to redirect it, only he didn't have enough time to do it properly. He was hurt pretty badly but I managed to stabilize him."

"Oh my spirits." Suki gasped and her hands flew up and covered her mouth.

"Prince Zuko took a lightning bolt for you?" Her father asked and then smiled. "He's going to make one fine Fire Lord."

"Yes. He saved my life. Many times."

"What about Azula?" Sokka asked.

"I stopped her. Zuko had her taken to a secure room within the palace."

"What! She should be in jail." Toph shouted.

"Not in her condition." Katara said. "She had some sort of mental break down after I beat her, and it wasn't an act either. I've never seen Azula like that in my life." Katara shivered as the image of Azula crying and firebending from the mouth replayed in her mind. She had never in her life seen a person so broken and she never wanted to again.

"Azula had a break down? Oh no!" Ty Lee gasped.

"Suki! Sokka cried. "Ty Lee is pretending to be a Kyoshi Warrior again."

It was true. Katara hadn't even noticed she was there at first because she was standing right among Kyoshi warriors, but Katara noticed that none of the other warriors seemed too worried by her proximity to them.

"It's O.K. She's one of us now." Rumiko, Suki's second in command, informed Sokka.

"Yeah, the girls and I really bonded in prison. And after a few Chi blocking lessons, they said I could join their group. We're going to be best friends forever.

"Well wonders never cease." Toph deadpanned.

"Hey, Suki said and elbowed Katara in the side, Those guys look like some kind of all important Fire Nation palace guys, do you know who they are?"

Katara turned her head towards where Suki was looking. The group of Fire Sages that Katara had encountered earlier was parting the crowds as they made their way over to her, and she wondered if they ever went any where by themselves.

"Katara, the Fire Lord is awake and is requesting your presence." The Fire Sage, whom she assumed to be in charge, said.

"Oh, well O.K."

"Shall we escort you?"

"Thank you. That would be nice."

The Fire Sages all bowed as a group.

"Sorry everyone." Katara said. "I have to go."

"It's OK." Suki said. "Tell Zuko we said hi and to get better soon."

"I will."

The Fire Sages lead Katara to Zuko's room and for that she was grateful. She would have gotten lost if she tried to find his room on her own. The palace was so enormous she didn't know how she was ever going to find her way around.

Zuko was only half dressed when she went into his room. He was struggling to put on one of his formal dress robes and she walked over to help him.

"I just wanted to see you before I'm officially coronated."

"How are you feeling?"

"Nervous more than anything else." He admitted. "I've never been good at giving speeches."

"I don't know, Katara said as she tied the belt around his robe, I remember quite a few rousing speeches you gave when we were on the road."

"You weren't there when I tried giving Sokka a pep talk." Zuko said. "The best I could do was tell him to bite a silver sandwich."

Katara burst into a fit of giggles and then composed herself. "Well, you weren't there when Sokka gave his speech on the day of black sun. Trust me you're gonna do fine." She smoothed down the front of his robe.

Zuko stepped in front of his full length mirror to check himself out. "How do I look?"

"Like the most handsome Fire Lord in the history of the Fire Nation." Katara said.

Zuko blushed and then pulled her into his arms and kissed her. "Thank you. For everything."

Katara nodded and watched as he walked out the door. "Zuko." She called out.

He stopped in the doorway and turned around to look at her. "Yes?"

"I'm so proud of you."

Zuko stared at her for the longest time and then swallowed hard and nodded.

Nerves had taken over Zuko's body. He tried to be in the moment but all of his thoughts were racing ahead of him. The war was over and he was Fire Lord. He kept telling himself that over and over and over again, but it still didn't feel real. Perhaps after his coronation was over he would feel it. He took a deep breath and made his way down the hallway to the coronation balcony.

Aang was waiting for him in the balcony's antechamber.

"Congratulations, Fire Lord."

"Same to you, Avatar."

They both laughed and then were quiet.

"Look, Aang there's something I have to tell you."

"I know, or at least I think I know." Aang said in such a low voice Zuko hardly heard him. "You and Katara, you're together aren't you?"

"Yes. I'm sorry for lying to you."

Aang shrugged. "I guess you guys had your reasons."

"I didn't mean to hurt you, and neither did Katara."

"She was never really my girl. I just wanted her to be."

"You're going to find someone, Aang I promise."

"Do you really think so?"

"I know so."

"Thanks, Zuko."

He nodded. "I can't believe a year ago my purpose in life was hunting you down, and now..."

"And now we're friends."

"Yeah, we are friends." Zuko realized.

"I can't believe a year ago I was still frozen in a block of ice. The World's so different now."

"And it's gonna be even more different, when we build it together." They hugged. It felt good to have cleared the air and still be friends. He still saw Aang as the little brother that he never had, and one talented Avatar. Zuko parted the curtains and walked through them with Aang following along behind him. The crowd that had gathered for his coronation was far larger than he had expected. They waved and cheered loudly for him.

"Please, Zuko said, the real hero is the Avatar." He stepped aside so that Aang could receive his due. As Aang waved to the crowd Zuko looked out for Katara and quickly found her. She gave the biggest grin when she saw him and he felt his nerves dissipating. "Today, this war is finally over." Zuko began. "I promised my Uncle that I would restore the honor of the Fire Nation, and I will. The road ahead of us is challenging. A hundred years of fighting has left the world scarred and divided. But with the Avatar's help, we can get it back on the right path, and begin a new era of love and peace."

Katara knew she was probably grinning like an idiot, but she didn't care, Zuko had sounded so confident and he had spoken with so much compassion and hope. She was just so damn proud of him.

"All hail Fire Lord Zuko!" The crowd thundered.

After Zuko had done his requisite meeting, greeting, and hand shaking of the crowd, he and the group flew to the Jasmine Dragon on the back of Appa. With no schedule, no one chasing them, and no war plans to carry out, it was one of the best flights she ever had on Appa. She lie back in Zuko's arms and watched the ground below with a sense of contentment knowing everyone down there was safe. The Fire Nation wouldn't be destroying any more families any time soon.

Zuko pulled some strings with the Earth King, though he didn't have to pull them too hard, and they were all allowed to stay in the same house that they had stayed in the very first time they had arrived in Ba Sing Se. Thankfully the wall that Toph had knocked out with her earthbending had been repaired.

"I wouldn't mind staying here by myself." Toph said. "It certainly would be better than going back home."

"You wouldn't get lonely?" Suki asked.

"Nope."

"I'll make sure of that." Sokka said. "There's no way you're getting rid of me that easy."

Toph didn't say anything, but two spots of color appeared on her cheek. "I'm going to find my old room before any of you think of taking it." Toph said and ran into the house.

"I guess it would be easier if we all just stayed in the same rooms we did last time we were here." Katara said. Everyone went off to find their room and get ready for the garden tea party at the Jasmine Dragon.

There was a package with a card attached lying on her bed. She picked up the card and read it. "I thought you might like to wear this. I know I liked seeing you in it, love Zuko."

She opened the packaged and pulled out the blue dress she wore on their "first date." The shoes, handbag, and matching hair combs were in there too.

Katara held the dress up to her body and twirled around the room. She had the most thoughtful wonderful boyfriend in the world. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and smiled. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so free. Finally the weight of the world had been lifted off of her shoulders. She hung the dress on the back of the door and then drew a bath and sunk down into the bubbles. She thought about how nice it would be when Zuko finally visited her at the South pole. He would look so handsome wearing seal skin fur lined boots and a blue anorak with a white fur trimmed collar. They could go on a sled ride to the glacier caverns. Maybe she would even take him penguin sledding. The image of Zuko attempting to go penguin sledding that her mind conjured up made her laugh and she vowed to herself that she would get him to do it.

She decided to leave her hair down and let it dry naturally. She sat at her table and put some panda lily oil in her hair and brushed it out, and then put on a little bit of the make up she had left over from the time she went to the Earth King's party. Katara looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair fell in soft waves over her shoulders. She had put on just enough makeup to accentuate her best features, and her blue dress made her eyes look even bluer. She felt beautiful and natural in a way that she hadn't felt in such a long time. She felt like she had gotten back a part of her that had been lost for awhile. For the first time in a long time she felt like Katara. Just Katara.

A carriage pulled up to take them to the Jasmine Dragon. Zuko and Iroh were already there. As the carriage pulled up to the front steps Katara could hear tsungi horn music coming from the tea shop. The song sounded much happier then the one that Zuko had played for her back at his beach house.

As usual the tea shop smelled wonderful. Katara took a deep breath of the herbal scented air.

"Welcome everyone, Zuko said as the made their way in, sit wherever you'd like. The tea will be out shortly."

"I hope you're serving more than tea, because I'm like starving." Sokka said. He sat down at a table that had a blank scroll pen sitting on top of it.

"What kind of host do you think we are?" Iroh asked. "Beside do I look like someone who would have just tea?"

"Search me." Toph said.

"Do you need any help?" Katara asked.

"No, we just need you to sit and relax." Iroh said.

Toph took no time in taking Iroh up on his words. She found a chair to sit in and propped her feet up on the table. Katara shook her head. Toph was living proof that money couldn't buy you class.

She and Suki settled for playing a game of Pai Sho while Aang sat on the floor and bent out a small ball of air for Momo to play with. Appa was too big to fit inside of the tea shop and so he had to settle for looking in from the opened front door.

Zuko brought out a tray of tea and began serving it to everyone. "It's a fire cove blossom and moon petal blend. My uncle created it."

"In honor of our Current Fire Lord and future Fire Lady." Iroh said.

Katara took her cup of tea from Zuko as naturally as breathing air. The two of them exchanged smiles. If you could get drunk off of a look Katara was surely intoxicated. They had been tied to each other by something deeper than words ever since that day she silently agreed to heal his scar in the crystal catacombs. How could she have ever thought that she hated him when he was the love of her life.

"Zuko, stop moving!" Sokka shouted suddenly. I'm trying to capture the moment. I wanted to do a painting, so we always remember the good times together."

"That's very thoughtful of you Sokka." Katara said and went over to see what her brother had been painting all this time. "Wait! Why did you give me Momo's ears?

"Those are your hair loopies."

"At least you don't look like a boarcupine. Zuko said to her. "My hair's not that spiky!"

"And why did you paint me firebending?"Suki wanted to know.

"I thought it looked more exciting that way." Sokka explained.

Momo jumped on the table and looked at Sokka. Her brother seemed to take that as a sign that Momo was critiquing his drawing. "Oh, you think you can do a better job, Momo?" He snapped.

"Hey, Iroh cried, my belly's not that big anymore, I've really trimmed down."

"Well, Toph said as she threw up her arms, I think you all look perfect!"

Everybody laughed. Even Zuko. He was getting used to their little inside jokes.

"So, Zuko said as he pulled her off into an empty corner of the room, how about tomorrow I give you an official tour of the palace. Introduce you to all the Fire Sages and the palace guards and staff."

"That sounds good. Then maybe after words just the two of us can go for a walk around the Royal Gardens."

"You know the gardens are especially beautiful at night and there are lots of private spots for kissing."

Katara closed her eyes and in the next instance she felt Zuko's lips on hers. She melted into his body as they kissed and it was like the tea shop disappeared and it was just the two of them. She forgot about everybody else. She forgot about the rest of the world. The world, when she was kissing Zuko, belonged only to the two of them.

* * *

 

As Aang watched Zuko kiss Katara he knew his dream of her becoming his girlfriend was never going to come true. Even though Zuko had told him that he was dating Katara a stubborn part of him wished that she would break up with him and realize that the two of them were destined to be together. Wasn't the hero always supposed to get the girl? Ruko had gotten the girl of his dreams. Why couldn't he? He had done a lot of growing up over the summer, but Katara still saw him as just a little kid. Zuko said that he would find someone else, but he didn't want anyone other than Katara. He had accepted that she had moved on, but that didn't stop him from wanting her. The only thing that kept his heart from feeling like it was completely broken was the fact that he had Dolma and the other airbenders in the spirit world to go to. He had a home now. Somewhere where he truly belonged.

He stepped outside of the front door of the tea shop. Appa was the only one out there and Aang hugged him. Even Appa had someone. Kuchen's sky bison Minh was totally smitten with Appa, and he seemed just as smitten with her. "At least the girl you like likes you back." He said and petted Appa on the muzzle. Letting out a deep sigh Aang realized it was pointless to sit outside and mope by himself. It was time to tell his friend about the other airbenders. That was something that would surely lift his spirits. He went back inside. Zuko and Katara were still in a corner. They had stopped kissing. Now they were just talking among themselves. Zuko had his arm around Katara's shoulder and she was holding on to his hand. Being around the two of them was going to be harder than he thought.

"Hey everybody, he began, I have something to tell you."

"What is it, twinkle toes?" Toph asked. "I can't see your face, but you sound serious. I don't like that."

Aang laughed. "Don't worry it's good news." He paused for a beat. "When I disappeared I didn't just find a giant Sea Lion Turtle. I found other airbenders. Alive."

The room was so quiet you could have heard a monkey feather drop. Everyone just stared at him with their mouths hanging open. Then everyone started talking at once.

"Oh, Aang that's great! I'm happy for you!"

"I knew all the time that I'm the only one left stuff was really a cry for help."

"That's, well, that's amazing!"

"More twinkle toes. Or is it twinkle toeses?"

"I'll do whatever I can to help protect the airbenders. You have my word."

"I should have known. The spirit world always seeks a way to restore balance to the world."

Aang smiled. Everyone had reacted exactly how he had expected him too. Right down to the hug that Katara gave him. It felt bittersweet to be hugged by her. He'd never be close enough to her again to feel her hair against his skin or smell the way she always smelled of river lilies.

"I'd like for all of you to meet, Dolma, she's the head of Council of Elders, and her family."

"Of course. Katara said. "We would love to meet the other airbenders."

"It would be my honor to host a dinner at the Palace in honor of the new found airbenders, unless of course you think that would be in poor taste." Zuko said.

"Actually I think they'd be interested in meeting you." Aang confessed. "I told them you are a good person and that we couldn't have made it as far as we did without you."

"Then it's settled. The Fire Palace will host a dinner for Dolma and her family. After all it's the least we could do."

* * *

 

Since Zuko had invited Dolma and her family for dinner at the Fire Nation palace he also invited team avatar to stay at the palace. Katara was given a beautiful room with a view of the Royal Gardens. As she stepped out on to her balcony she could smell the fragrant flora air. A walk through the Royal Gardens would be like a real date and she and Zuko could finally get some alone time together. She was going to miss him so much when she was in the North Pole. Chief Arnook had invited her to the North Pole to officially teach waterbending to any of the women of the Northern water tribe who desired to learn. It was an honor to have been asked. She thought about all the girls who had cheered her on when she'd been fighting against master Pakku, who was now her grandfather, and how she would get to teach them to be badass waterbenders who would teach their daughters to be badass waterbenders. It didn't seem so weird to Katara anymore. Everything seemed to pale in comparison to the fact that there were other living airbenders besides Aang.

Tomorrow was the big dinner with Aang and his new airbender friends. Katara was both excited and nervous to meet them. She had seen pretty much everything since she left the South Pole, but even she had been totally surprised when Aang had told her there were other airbenders still living. On a small scale she knew what Aang felt. She had been so excited when She had met Hama, but it wasn't just the excitement, it was having someone out there who understood what she was. Growing up the urge to waterbend had been so strong that she had tried to learn how to bend all by herself. She hadn't known any forms and couldn't even do a simple water whip, but even the small amount of bending that she did when she had no idea what she was doing made her feel at peace. It was like she couldn't not waterbend. A waterbender is what she was. When she did learn how to waterbend it hadn't been in the Southern style and she always felt as if there was a piece of her missing because of that. So when Hama had offered to teach her the style of Southern waterbending she had felt complete. Like she had finally found that missing puzzle piece of herself. That must be how Aang felt, but on a far grander scale.

She wondered where he would live now, or if he'd even given the matter any thought. Now that he had found the other airbenders she guessed he'd live in one of the airtemples, or he could choose to adopt a nomadic life style again. Aang always had a strong touch of wanderlust. For Katara the South Pole would always be her home, but one day the Fire Nation palace would be her home. Staying in the palace was taking some getting used to. Katara was used to doing everything herself, but around here the staff did everything. They made her bed. Drew her baths. They cleaned her clothes and cooked her meals. Every time she turned around there was another staff member wanting to help do something that she could have very easily done herself. She certainly didn't need anyone to help her dress. The only time they left her alone was when she was treating Zuko's lightning burn, and according to the clock on the wall it was time for Zuko's next treatment.

With the help of the Fire Sages Katara had learned the way from her room in the guest quarters to Zuko's room. His room was the biggest room she had ever seen. Appa could have fit in it with plenty of room to spare.

She knocked on Zuko's door and he answered in a trice.

"How are you feeling?" She asked him.

"Better mostly, but I sometimes get these sharp static like pains where Azula shot me, but I don't think that's something that's going to ever go away."

"Did it keep you up? You look as if you didn't sleep well."

"I didn't, but it wasn't just the pain that was keeping me up. In a few weeks I'm going to go look for my mother. My uncle is going to act as regent until I come back."

"Wait, that's a good thing isn't it?"

"Yes, but the fact that I have to ask my father for help in finding her isn't."

"Oh, I'm so sorry Zuko."

"Don't be. Even if he won't tell me I'll find away."

Katara picked up his hand and squeezed it. "We'll find away. I'm in this with you too, Zuko."

"Are you sure? "

"I'm sure Zuko. I want you to find your mom, and even if your father won't tell you we'll find another way."

"Thank you, Katara."

She nodded. "Now let's start on your healing session."

Zuko nodded and lie back on the bed propped up by four large pillows.

Katara still found the scar hard to look at. Not because it disgusted her, but because it brought back the image of Zuko's body being lifted off the ground by Azula's lightning. That had been one of the scariest moments of her entire life. She still didn't know how she remained calm enough to take Azula down, all she did know is in that moment she wasn't ready to let Azula take Zuko from the world. He had too many good works to do.

"I'm lucky my uncle has always been on my side. I don't think my body has room for another scar."

"Zuko."

"The scar doesn't bother me Katara, and I can laugh about it now."

Katara didn't believe that his father and sister permanently scarring him didn't bother him, but she did believe that he needed to use humor to be able to cope with the situation for now, so she didn't say anything to the contary. She reached down to pick up her flask of medicated bending water. Without the guidance of Chunhua she had to make up the medicine on her own. The Royal Palace Library had been an abundance of information. After compiling a list of the plants and herbs she would need she sent it to the head gardener and she went and collected everything for Katara.

The medicine was deep purple and smelled like a damp basement, but it worked wonders for Zuko. The only down side was his healing sessions always left him feeling wiped out.

"How about if I go get us some lunch and we can eat together."

"It's OK, Katara. You can go eat with the others if you want."

"What I want is to eat lunch with my boyfriend." Katara said. She collected her medical supplies. "Anything you care for?"

"Whatever you pick is fine." Zuko said with his eyes closed.

After putting away her supplies Katara made her way to one of many dining halls with in the palace. Aang, Sokka, Toph, and Suki were already in the dining room sitting around a table that had lunch prepared and laid out on it.

"How is Zuko?" Suki asked.

"Sleeping." Katara said. "Peacefully I hope. I gave him some elkdeer's tail to take away most of the pain." She sat down next to her brother.

"I still can't believe that the war is finally over or that I'll be going home at the end of this week." Suki said.

"What!?" Katara cried.

"Yeah. Kuchen is going to fly me back to Kyoshi on Minh."

"And I'm going with them because I need a ride home." Toph said.

Katara looked from Suki to Toph. "Kuchen,Minh? Who are Kuchen and Minh?"

"Kuchen is Dolma's son and Mihn is Kuchen's sky bison." Aang filled in for Katara. "I think Appa is in love with her." Aang added.

"Course he is." Sokka said. "He hasn't seen a female sky bison in one hundred years."

"So, you two have met Kuchen?" Katara asked.

"No, Aang told Kuchen about all of us and he offered to take me home on his sky bison." Suki explained. "Apparently he's very keen on exploring the main land."

"I just know that Appa and Minh will have the cutest little babies." Katara said. "I'd babysit their calves whenever you wanted me to, Aang."

"Yeah, just don't forget to bring a shovel." Toph said.

"If Appa and Minh have babies I'll give you one of their calves." Aang said. "I promise."

"Oh, thank you Aang."

"I'll be leaving at the end of the week too." Aang said sheepishly. "I'm leaving for the Spirit World to visit the other airbenders. Then I'm taking Kuchen and his parents on a tour of all of the air temples."

"So wait, everyone is leaving at the end of the week?" Katara looked around the room at everyone. They were all avoiding looking into her eyes.

"Looks like." Sokka told her.

"I can't believe this." Katara cried.

"It's time to get back to our real lives." Suki said.

"I know, but I thought we'd have more time to spend together. I'll be headed to the North Pole by the end of the week and then I won't see any of you for weeks."

"That just means we'll have to make this week count." Aang said.

"Think Zuko would let us stay at his beach house?" Toph asked.

"It would be nice to take a vacation before we start our real lives." Suki said.

"I don't see why not, but I'll have to ask." Katara said and got up from her seat. "I was going to bring Zuko some lunch anyway. The healing sessions really wipe him out."

"He has servants for that." Sokka pointed out.

"He also has a girlfriend who feels like bringing him something to eat so that they can have lunch together." Suki said.

"Oh."

Katara looked up from her plate to notice that Aang was looking at her with a sad look on his face. He'd been doing it ever since Zuko had told him the truth. She didn't know what to say to him that would come off as condescending. She knew that she needed to give him space, but it was hard because when Aang was hurting she was usually the one to make him feel better. She still felt the need to look after and protect him.

Everything was changing so quickly after a year where things never seemed to change quickly enough. Where would she be a year from now? When would she be expected to move into the Fire Nation palace? Surely not until they were at least engaged. Would Zuko be willing to spend part of his time in the South Pole? Would that even be a viable option? That was something they would have to work out together, and besides all of that was still a long way down the road. There were so many other plans she and Zuko had to carry out together before they ruled together, and this time would if nothing else help them do that.

"Don't stay gone too long." Toph teased. "Or we'll think you're up to something."

"We're just eating lunch." Katara said. She grabbed two plates of spicy deep-fried rabbit squirrel because it was one of Zuko's favorite dishes.

Though he was weary Zuko took the tray from Katara and set it up in the small table and chair out on his balcony.

Katara waited until he sat down and enjoyed the first bites of his dinner before asking him if the gang could stay at his beach house.

"That would be perfect. I had the place fixed up inside and out since the last time we where there, and this is my last week free before I start doing my official duties as Fire Lord.

"This is going to be some week to remember." Katara said.

"Yeah, something tells me we're never going to forget it.

* * *

 

Zuko was finishing up his lunch with Katara when there was a knock at his door that grew more frantic with every second that passed.

When Zuko finally got to the door one of his advisers, Reo, rushed inside of his room.

"Fire Lord Zuko you're needed right away." He panted as if he'd run all the way to Zuko's room.

"What is it?"

"It's your father, Fire Lord."

"Has he escaped?" '

"No, but you should bring Mistress Katara along as well."

"Why? What's going on. Tell me now!" He demanded and stepped up to Reo until he was only inches from his face.

"It's your father, Fire Lord." Reo stammered.

"What about my father? Spit it out!"

"He's sick. He's very sick, and the doctors don't know if he'll ever get better."


	14. Our little group has always been and always will until the end

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Finally I finished the story. Sorry for being the world's slowest and whiniest writer. I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who's been here from the beginning to the end. Thanks to everyone who took time out of their lives to read this story whether you commented or not. Thanks to everyone who stuck by me. I was ready to give up but a lot of you left me such encouraging comments and I also realized that I wasn't being fair to all the new readers out there or the people who just don't know what to leave in a review. Yes I do plan on writing a sequel, but I'm not sure when I'll ever get it done as I am the world's slowest writer. Anyways I just want to say THANK YOU to all of my readers and I hope you've enjoyed reading this fanfic as much as I enjoyed writing it. Much love and ship Zutara.

For his father to have died by Aang's hands was a possibility that Zuko had prepared himself for; the possibility of his father dying from sickness was not. Not once in his childhood had he seen his father sick in fact he'd always thought it was by sheer force of will that his father remained healthy. He most certainly never gave off the impression that anything could ever hurt him or slow him down. Whatever it was that was wrong with him must have been rare to have invaded his father's person. Zuko hurriedly follow Dr. Yamamoto down the hallway to The Royal Medical Ward. The Royal family never left the palace grounds to seek medical treatment as they were considered far too superior over the rest of the populace to risk getting their germs. Growing up Zuko had always hated that; with everything that the family needed within the palace grounds it felt like there was no escape. Today he was extremely grateful for that fact. No one outside of the palace walls needed to know about his father. Not even everyone within the palace walls would be privy to that information.

The last time Zuko had visited the Royal Family Medical Ward he'd hardly remembered it. He had been taken there right after his father had burned him and the pain caused him to pass out several times. The last time he had regained consciousness the doctors, who had been ordered to simply clean his wound, were finishing up his bandages and sending him on his way. He wasn't given anything for the pain nor any medicines to keep his burn from getting infected. His father hadn't come to visit him. Instead he had given Zuko the oldest most broken down ship in the Fire Navy fleet as a parting gift. Then as the final insult sent him off to capture the Avatar knowing the whole time it was a fools errand from which his only son would likely never return, but despite the inhumane way that his father had treated him, he could not repay his father in kind.

"How is he?" Zuko asked.

"Still no change." Dr. Yamamoto said. He placed his hand on the door knob of the ex Fire Lord's room and then looked directly into Zuko's eyes. "You might want to brace yourself, Fire Lord."

Zuko took a deep breath, let it out, and then nodded several times. "All right. I'm ready."

Dr. Yamamoto opened the door and stepped aside to let Zuko and Katara through.

It was hard for Zuko to believe that the man who was sitting on that hospital bed was the same man who had tormented him for the first thirteen years of his life. This was not the man that he'd grown up to fear. "Reo, said you don't know what's wrong with him. Is that true?"

"Yes, Fire Lord, to be frank with you he will probably never recover from this state. I am at a loss for a proper diagnosis for what his condition is exactly."

Zuko looked back at his father as he sat on his hospital bed staring into the empty space in front of him. He didn't even seem to be aware that there were others in the room with him. If his father had been aware there were others there he would have never appeared in this state in front of them. His hair was lank and greasy as if he hadn't washed it in days. Then there was his outfit. Not only did it not match, but it was made out of cheap fabric. Fabric so cheap that his father wouldn't even of let the maids use it as dust rags. Ozai pushed himself off of his bed, and for a moment Zuko thought his father was going to come over and confront him, but he walked over to the window and stared outside. Zuko noticed that his father no longer walked around like a man who was set to take over the whole world instead he had the slow shuffling gait of a man three times his age.

"If coaxed your father will eat, bathe, and change his clothing, but he often needs assistance from others in accomplishing those task. However no amount of coaxing can get your father to speak. He seems to have no interest in outside stimuli. Your father won't read books or listen to music. He doesn't go outside. He either lies in bed staring at the ceiling or he looks out of the window."

"I don't know if anything I could do would help, Katara said, but I'm willing to try."

"You would help him?" Dr. Yamamoto asked. "I had hoped that you would, but I would also understand if you didn't want to."

Katara stared hard at Ozai. "If he died I could live with that. If he rotted in jail for the rest of his life I could live with that, but if he's in the fog of lost souls Zuko couldn't live with that, and  _I_  couldn't live with that."

Why couldn't he hate his father and cut him off and forget he ever existed? There was nothing good about the man. He had killed whatever was good inside of him a long time ago.

Dr. Yamamoto patted the edge of the hospital bed and said. "Ozai, why don't you lie down on the bed for me." He sounded if he were talking to a child.

Ozai stared at the doctor with his mouth hanging open a moment before shuffling over to the bed and flopping down. Katara bent water out of her flask and began her healing process. Her hands worked their way around his father who lie there as if he were a statue. Over and over she worked the water around. Zuko wasn't sure for how long, but it seemed like ages.

"I'm sorry, Zuko." Katara finally said and shook her head. "His chi is stagnant. Almost as if it isn't there at all."

"It's not your fault." Zuko said. "You did everything you could." He felt tears stinging in the corner of his eyes and it shocked him that he still had tears to cry over his father. The man had just tried to burn down the entire world he didn't deserve tears, but the heart was deceitful. What it should want and what it shouldn't want never seemed to be within arms reach of one another. "Keep him as comfortable as possible and the minute there is any change in his behavior summon me immediately." Zuko ordered and hoped that Dr. Yamamoto didn't notice that he sounded more authoritative than he felt.

"Of course, Fire Lord." Dr. Yamamoto said and bowed.

"When are you going to tell your uncle?" Katara asked as soon as they were out of earshot of Dr. Yamamoto.

"I don't know. I don't want to bother him with this he's only just made it to Ba Sing Se."

"He would want to know. For better or for worse Ozai is his brother."

"Not before we try every other option. There's still Chunhua if she's willing to help."

"What if the only solution is to give your father his bending back? Then what."

"That can't happen." Zuko said. "Aang would never do that and I would never let him."

"What about Azula, what are you going to tell her?"

Zuko stopped walking and chewed on the skin on his lip before answering. "Nothing. I'm afraid if I tell her she might have another break down." His sister had just started acting like her old self, and while it was making his hectic life more hectic he would much rather have a glimmer of the old Azula back than the broken down shell she'd been before. "Maybe when she's in a better place mentally I'll take her to visit our father, it might do the both of them good."

"Or it could be a huge disaster. I'm going to go with huge disaster." Katara said.

"She's going to find out eventually. She's Azula finding things out is what she does." He rubbed his temples. The headache that had started out as a dull throb was now a pounding in his head. It felt as if there were a tiny Toph letting loose in a gravel pit inside of his brain. "It's better she finds out from me. If she hears the news from anyone else it will only drive the wedge further between us."

"Why don't we go back to your room and I'll take care of your headache." Katara said.

"It's fine." Zuko started walking again cutting a corner and heading down the long hallway towards his room.

"No it isn't." Katara insisted. "Stop doing that. You don't have to handle everything by yourself, Zuko. Send a messenger hawk to your uncle. He'll want to help."

"O.K. I'll tell my uncle, but not by messenger hawk those can be intercepted. I'll have an armed courier send the message. He sighed "I think now would be a good time for me to start selecting members of my privy council. I can't expect my uncle to be at my beck and call all of the time. He has his own life to live."

"Well, you still have some older trusted members of the council like Reo. His brain would be a good one to pick." Katara suggested.

"The problem is even if I pick Reo's brain there aren't many people here left to trust. Most of the palace servants worked for my father and are loyal to him, they only see me as a usurper. I can't fire everyone but I also can't work with people I can't trust."

"You've turned enemies into friends before and you can do it again."

"Do you think your brother would do it?"

"Turn your enemies into your friends?"

"No! Help me to decide what staff members to keep and which to let go. "

Katara shook her head. "Oh, well you didn't say that. I'm sure that he would, but why Sokka?"

"He's an excellent judge of character." Zuko admitted.

"True. Sokka can tell when there's something not right with someone. He saw right through Jet and Hama."

"I still need someone permanent." Zuko rubbed his chin in thought for a moment. "Lieutenant Jee!"

"Hun?"

"Lieutenant Jee used to be a member of my crew when I was hunting Aang. We used to butt heads, but-."

"You butting heads with someone. Imagine that."

Zuko grimaced at Katara. "He's someone that I grew to trust and someone I can have on my council."

"How bout Master Piandao? Wouldn't hurt to have a member of the order on your council."

The heavy double cherry wood doors to Zuko's room were open. He could see the maid inside bustling around. Her name was Miko and her mother Masumi was head maidservant. He had been trying to learn the names and ranks of all of his servants in order to build a rapport with them. He needed the servants on his side in order to make his transition to becoming Fire Lord as smooth as possible. So much could go wrong if he didn't do the right things.

"I've cleaned the windows, dusted, changed your sheets, and put fresh towels in your bathroom, Fire Lord." Miko said as she came out of his room.

"Ah, that's really nice. Thank you, Miko."

Miko curtsied and then left.

Zuko sank down on his bed and Katara sat down beside him."After I have my Affairs of the Nation briefing with my council I've got to go tell Aang about my father. I want him to know before the other airbenders get here."

"Do you think you should call off the dinner tomorrow?" Katara asked.

"Not unless Aang wants me to. I don't want to do anything that might seem like a bad gesture towards the airbenders or is it air nomads?"

"I don't think it matters, but you're thinking about too much right now. Katara moved closer to him and bent some water around her hands. "Close your eyes."

Zuko did as he was ordered. A few seconds later he felt her hands moving water around his temples.

"That feels great."

"I want you to be relaxed for your brebriefing ."

"Thank you." After a few minutes of Katara's water massage Zuko could feel his headache fading away. "I should go now. I don't have much time to spare. I'll be in meetings with Reo most of the day, sorry."

"It's fine. After I finish my lesson plans for my waterbending classes Suki and I are taking a day trip to the Earth Kingdom."

"Oh, how are you getting there?"

"Aang is letting us take Appa."

When Katara left for her waterbending classes in the North Pole it would be at least three months before Zuko saw her again. How was he going to cope without hearing her voice or seeing her face everyday? Two months without holding her in his arms seemed like torment, but even though he would be lost without her he wanted her to go. He knew first hand how much she had grown as a waterbender and he was proud of her. He was proud of her for standing up for the young girls of the Northern Water Tribe who didn't have the power to stand up for themselves. If there was one thing to be said about the Fire Nation gender never determined how far you could go in bending or in any other area of life.

"You're going to be amazing, sifu Katara."

"Thank you."

"I'll miss you."

Katara turned his head so that he was looking at her and then kissed him. "I'll miss you too, but I'll write you hundreds of letters."

"Promise?" Zuko asked and kissed her back slowly.

"I promise."

"I may get the chance to visit you at least once while you're in the Northern Water tribe. I have a series of goodwill meetings with the rulers of the other three nations. I've got a lot of damage control to do on behalf of the Fire Nation. I'm going to try and reform new peace treaties that my grandfather and father broke years ago, but it isn't going to be easy. I'm about as trusted as my father is right now."

"At least you don't have to worry about earning my father's trust you've already done that. He considers you an ally."

Hakoda considered him an ally after all that he had done. Zuko could hardly believe it. With the exception of his uncle there weren't many adult males who held him in high esteem nor had he had that many positive adult male influences in his life. His father was well his father. Zhao was a psychotic bully. The crewmen on his ship were not the type anyone who had any concern for their child's moral fiber would leave them alone in the company of. The men did not let Zuko's age stop them from enjoying whatever vices they wanted, and though his uncle always tried to watch over him he'd seen a lot of things a boy of thirteen years old shouldn't have seen.

"I never consider the fact that your father would see me as an ally. I keep thinking that deep down he really must hate me."

"No. That isn't true, Zuko. I told you my father likes you."

"When my father looks at me now it's like he doesn't even see me, and it's worse than when he could actually see me and pretended that he couldn't. For most of his life he's done whatever he could to hurt me and I wanted him to finally have to pay for that, but now he gets to forget everything as if it never happened. It's like what he did to me doesn't matter, and if or when he does remember he'll finally have to pay, but so will I." Since becoming Fire Lord Zuko had been wearing his hair up but he still reached up to play with the shaggy bangs that were no longer there. "I know your father is different than mines, but it's hard for me to believe that a father would forgive so easily."

Katara reached out for him but he got up abruptly from his bed he couldn't be around Katara right now he felt as if he was infecting her with his past. "I need to go." She was going to have to spend her life time living down his family's legacy. What kind of life was that? She deserved the kind of life living in the Water Tribe could provide. One of community, togetherness, and family. What did he know about family? Katara had a family she was dying for him to meet, and he had a family that would kill hers if they met. None of team avatar was normal, but compared to him they were all normal. Spirits what was he doing? How did he think he could pull off the kind of life where he was both Fire Lord and Katara's boyfriend?

* * *

"O.K. I'm done." Katara said then blew softly on her scroll in hopes that it would dry the ink faster but not spread it around. "Thanks for all your help, Suki."

"No problem." Suki had gone over Katara's lesson plan and had given her some tips on how to train a class and earn her students respect. "Can I see?"

"Sure."

Suki leaned over Katara's shoulder and looked at the scroll of waterbending forms she had painted. "Those look really awesome."

"Thanks. I'm so nervous. I've never been off on my own for this long, but my Gran-gran will be there and so will Yugoda so I guess I won't be completely alone."

"The nerves won't last for long besides if you can teach the Avatar you can teach anyone."

Katara rolled up her now dry scroll and got up from her desk to put it in the top drawer of her dresser. "Where do you want to go for lunch?"

"Ty Lee says there's a really good place, The Noodle Bowl Sing Se, in the middle ring I thought we could go and check it out."

"Noodles sound good to me."

Katara checked herself out in her mirror to make sure she looked fine. Seeing that nothing was out of place she walked out of her room and into the Fire Palace courtyard with Suki. Aang and Appa were there waiting for them.

"Hi Aang." The two called out together.

"Katara. Hi Suki." No Hi Katara.

"Thanks for letting us borrow Appa."

"Just make sure you're back before dark. Don't forget Dolma and her family are coming here tonight."

"Of course." Katara said.

"O.K., well bye." Aang said and walked away.

"Poor little guy." Suki said. "His heart is totally broken."

"Thanks, that makes me feel better."

Suki flicked Appa's reins. "Yip yip!" she cried and he rose high into the air. "Sorry, I know it's not your fault, but I can't help but feel sorry for Aang."

"I feel bad for Aang too." Katara said despondently.

"Hey, after lunch why don't we go shopping? I need some new clothes to take back to Kyoshi with me. Everything I have is torn, stained or singed, and you need some new clothes to take to the Northern Water Tribe."

"True. I also need an outfit that I can wear to class everyday. Something that shows I'm the instructor, but also doesn't look intimidating."

"Looking a little intimidating is good." Suki said. "Sometimes you're going to have to put your foot down. When new students get over confident people get hurt."

"I'm first hand proof of that." Katara said and held up her hands. "It's thanks to Aang's over confidence in his ability to firebend that I even found out that I was a healer."

"I still can't believe that Aang isn't the last airbender." Suki said. "Seeing other airbenders is going to be so strange." She brought Appa down for a landing in front of the Upper Ring house they always stayed at while they were in the Earth Kingdom. They had to leave Appa there because they couldn't bring him to the Middle Ring with them.

"I wish that I could talk to Aang about it more, but you saw, he's pretty much shut me out of his life. I know it's probably awkward to be around me but I feel like I'm losing a friend."

"Give him some time he'll come around. Don't you remember your first crush? How long did it take you to get over that?"

Katara sent out for a carriage and fifteen minutes later the carriage pulled up in front of their door. Katara and Suki got in and the driver took off. When the carriage pulled up to The Noodle Bowl Sing Se the two girls thanked the driver and got out.

"It was my dad's best friend Bato and I was the most devastated ten year old in the world when I found out we'd never get married, and if you ever tell him I'll freeze you in a block of ice for all eternity." Katara said as she climbed the steps to the restaurant.

Suki laughed. "You're secret is safe with me, and at least your first kiss wasn't with a boy who foams at the mouth and passes out every time he sees the Avatar."

"Wait, Foamy Faints a Lot was your first kiss!"

"His name is Hisashi, and let me guess Sokka came up with the name Foamy Faints a Lot."

"Who else but Sokka. So what happened with you and Foamy- I mean Hisashi."

"We dated for a little while until he dumped me because I wouldn't give up my "stupid little hobby" of dressing up and playing with fans."

"Is that all he thinks being a Kyoshi warrior is?"

Suki shook her head."Later on I found out the real reason he dumped me was because I could fight better than him. Some of the other Kyoshi Warriors told me he's still bad mouthing me. Wait till he sees what Ty Lee taught me."

"Do you know how Ty Lee is doing? She seemed pretty upset about Azula."

"She is. She told me she tries to talk to Mai about it but she acts like the fight between the three of them never happened. Mai's family has gone back to Omashu and Ty Lee says she just walks around even gloomier than usual."

"Zuko still hasn't spoken to her since the war ended. He says they were in a bad place and they broke up before we got together, but I have a feeling the break up wasn't mutual. Do you think Mai still wants him back?"

"It doesn't matter if she does. Zuko doesn't want her back because he wants you."

"I'll just feel better once he breaks up with her face to face and not in a letter." Katara picked up her menu and looked it over. "I think I'll try the fire flake noodle bowl."

"I'm going to try the udon." Suki said.

The waiter came by and set two glasses of water and two cups of tea on their table. "Are you ladies ready to order?"

"I'll take a fire flake bowl and she'll have the udon." Katara said and handed over the menus. The waiter took their menus and went off to place their order with the chef.

Suki took a sip of her tea. "Iroh and Zuko have officially turned me into a tea snob, because this tea is not good." She set the cup back down on the table.

"Well let's hope the noodles are better because here they come."

The waiter set their bowls of noodles on the table. Katara cooled hers down slightly by using her bending. "Would you like me to cool yours?" She asked Suki.

"Yes, thank you."

Katara took a bite of her fire flake noodles and smiled. Comfort food was just what she needed. "Whew! These are hot." She fanned her mouth and then pushed her bowl over towards Suki. "Here, try."

Suki took a bite and her whole face turned red. She took her glass and drank down all the water. "That's not hot that's volcanic! Are you trying to kill me?"

"Sorry. I guess I've built up a tolerance since dating Zuko. He eats a lot of spicy foods."

"Are his kisses just as spicy?"

"Suki!"

"Well?"

"I'll just say this. There are a lot of perks that come with kissing a firebender." Katara slurped up a mouth full of noodles.

Suki closed her eyes as if she was having some sort of fond memory. "Sokka is an excellent kisser."

Katara stuffed her fingers in her ears. "Suki no, please."

Suki laughed.

After they paid the bill and left a tip Katara and Suki headed out to the fancy boutiques that lined the streets of the Middle Ring. Katara had money that had been given to her by the members of the White Lotus. Most of it she was saving but she taken out enough money to allow herself to splurge on a few vanity items. The first boutique that they stepped into smelled like roses. The walls were made of polished pink and white stones and so were the floors but beautifully woven rugs covered most of the floor. There were plush silk seats to sit on. Stone mannequins displayed the latest Earth Kingdom fashions and the whole back wall was nothing but fancy gilded mirrors. Katara suddenly felt under dressed and out of place.

The shop girl smiled at them. "I know the two of you!" She shouted. "You're Katara and You're Suki!" She ran up to them and hugged them both. "You're my heroes! Wait right here I have to get my sister!" The girl ran into a back room and a few seconds later came out with a younger version of herself. "This is my sister Jing, and I'm Jia and we were on that oil rig you liberated. After that day we saw you with the Avatar we started to fight back too!"

"You're earthbenders?"

The sisters nodded. "We're originally from a small farming village out west, but our parents moved us here once the raids started."

"Thank you." Katara said. "If it wasn't for people like you there's no way Aang could have won the war."

"What is the Avatar like?"

"Funny and sweet." Suki said.

"He has one of the purest hearts I know. He's brave and he's a good friend." Though Katara said the last part without as much confidence as she once would have. What if their friendship always stayed strained? What if he never got over his crush on her? Stop being arrogant she chastised herself. Aang would get over her once he went to live among the airbenders. There were probably plenty of girls who wanted to date him.

"That sky bison he had was so pretty. Is it all right?"

"Appa is fine." Katara said. "We didn't fly here on Appa or else we'd let you see him."

"That's O.K. meeting the two of you is enough."

"Aww, thanks." Suki said.

"Don't thank us yet we're not done fighting." Jing replied.

"What to you mean?" Suki asked.

"We're not going to stop fighting until every last single man, woman, and child from the Fire Nation permanently leaves the Earth Kingdom."

"Yeah, no Fire Nation presence in the Earth Kingdom!" Jia added.

"But not everyone from the Fire Nation is bad." Katara reasoned.

"So what! They still don't belong in the Earth Kingdom." Jia snapped. "They've occupied our land for years, killed our people, and grew their countries wealth off of our blood, sweat, and tears. I don't care if any of them are good. The Snuff Squad has no mercy for ash makers!"

"So how do you plan on making them all leave?" Suki asked as she put her hands on her hips.

"By doing whatever it takes to drive them out. I told you no mercy for ash makers!" Jia shouted.

"There are people from the Fire Nation who helped protect the Earth Kingdom during the war." Suki pointed out.

"We don't care what they've done. The Snuff Squad has no mercy for ash makers! Got a problem with that?" Jing asked.

"Then you got a problem with us." Jia said.

"We're not going to let you hurt innocent people." Katara said

Jing looked at her sister and smirked. "Try and stop us."

Jia bent out one of the huge pink stones from the wall and directed it at Suki who had to lie flat against the ground to keep from being hit. The stone sailed over Suki's body and flew through the store's glass front and landed in the middle of the busy sidewalk. A group of shoppers barely made it out of the way in time and ran screaming down the Middle Ring's main thoroughfare. Jia wasn't even fazed. She brought her leg up high into the air and then slammed it down hard onto the stone floor. The room shook as a stone wall shot up from the floor and covered the front entrance to the store.

"No way out now." Jing said and earthbent another stone from the wall and sent it flying across the room towards her and Suki. The huge stone hovered above their heads for a moment before Jing pulled her fist down in a pumping motion and dropped the stone.

* * *

At what point did you start to feel grownup? It certainly wasn't now Zuko thought. Despite being Fire Lord he still felt like a kid. A sixteen year old kid who held the fate of a nation in his entire hand. How had he let his uncle talk him into this? For most of his life he hadn't been the heir apparent and therefore hadn't been groomed to take over the throne. He'd been trained as a soldier with the expectation that he would serve in the Fire Navy not run the country, that was an honor that should have gone to his Uncle and then to his cousin Lu Ten, but his father's greed and ambition had changed all of that.

"Welcome everyone." He began and his voiced cracked as if he was going through puberty for the second time. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Welcome everyone. I'd like to call this meeting to order." He remained standing and so did everyone else. It was an awkward few minutes before he realized that no one else could sit down until he did. He was the Fire Lord now.

"Shall we have Akane take the minutes Fire Lord?" Reo asked.

Zuko looked at the young woman sitting across from him who was holding a quill and scroll with an expectant look on her face. "Er, yes, do that. I mean that will be fine, Akane." He was in way over his head and everyone at the meeting knew it. He had never been good at faking what he was not so there was no sense in pretending he was more prepared for this meeting than what he was."Look. I know things aren't ideal right now but I am going to do everything with in my power as Fire Lord to make the transition run as smoothly as possible, so if you could tell me the biggest problems we're facing right now that would be helpful."

"The Fire Nation colonies, or rather what to do with them, is the most pressing issue, Fire Lord." Reo said.

"Well, what is the Earth King's stance?"

"Oh, has no one told you?"

"Has no one told me what?" Zuko said without bothering to keep the edge from his voice.

"There is talk of Kuei wanting to abdicate the throne."

"Abdicate! Why would he abdicate the throne now? His people need him more than ever."

"You must remember that at this point they are merely rumors, Fire Lord, but I have it on good authority that The Earth King doesn't have the mental fortitude to deal with the crisis within his Kingdom. The last time he tried dealing with the Earth Kingdom's problems he fell into some sort of torpor. It seems Kuei would rather explore the Earth Kingdom than rule it."

"Explore!" Zuko shouted. "He can't be serious. His duty should be to the people of the Earth Kingdom especially since he doesn't have any heirs! Who does he think is going to rule over the Earth Kingdom if he abdicates?"

"I also have it on good authority that Lao Beifong is set to take the throne from Kuei."

"Lao Beifong?"

"Lao has the political acumen. His father was the Grand Secretariat to Kuei's father, Earth King Kuo. Not to mention he is a close childhood friend of Kuei's. The two grew up together like brothers. Lao's father, Rong, was gifted with several estates and titles from Earth King Kuo when he retired. That is how the Beifong's came about much of their wealth, Fire Lord."

"So if the rumors become true that would make Toph Beifong a princess." Zuko chuckled softly. Mountains would crumble into the sea once word reached Toph's ears. At least there was his silver sandwich in this nightmare. "I need to send a request to hold an audience with the Earth King, please send out an armed courier at once. How could Kuei not see what a disaster he would be creating by abdicating the throne in such a time of political unrest?

"What's next on the agenda?"

"Uprisings and anti Fire Nation sentiment, Fire Lord." General Adachi spoke up. General Hisayo Adachi had taken over General Shinu's post as director of the Yuyan Archers. Shinu, whom Zuko had dismissed from his position and the Fire Nation Military, was just one of many to be replaced. "There are protest breaking out right here in the Fire Nation and in Fire Nation colonies through out the Earth Kingdom with quite a few growing violent."

"How have the guards been handling it?"

"With force if necessary. Jail time for repeat offenders."

"How do they necessitate when force is needed?" He was going to have to assess the situation for himself. "Never mind I'll check out the situation with the Avatar, and forget the letter to the Earth King. I'll be dropping in on him in person whether he likes it or not." He got up from the table. "This meeting is adjourned." He needed to find Aang and tell him about his father. Maybe there was something that he could do to cure his father without returning his firebending.

As Zuko made his way to Aang's room all he could think about was how his father was the only one who knew where his mother was, and if Aang couldn't cure his father he might never find out where she was. He sighed and then knocked on Aang's door and a moment later he answered.

"Hey, Zuko. How is everything going?"

"Not good." He blurted out. "There's something wrong with my father. He hasn't been right since you took away his bending."

"What do you mean hasn't been right?"

"I don't know the doctors can't explain it and Katara couldn't heal him, but it's like he's here but he's not aware."

"Do you think I had something to do with it?" Aang squawked.

"I don't know?! I'm not blaming you. I just thought you should know."

"Oh. What do you plan on doing for him?"

"For now keep him comfortable and have the doctors monitor him. Maybe this is what he deserves. Maybe it's what the spirits had planned for him."

"I don't know." Aang said. "But I know someone who might."

"Who?" The only other person Zuko could think of was Chunhua."

"Guru Pathik." Aang said. "He knows more about chakras and chi than anyone else on the planet."

"Yeah, but do you think he will help?"

"Yes. I know he will."

"When can we visit him?"

"Fire Lord!" A voice shouted from down the hall.

Zuko brought his fingers up to the bridge of his nose and pinched it. There was always something. "Yes, General Adachi, what is it?"

"There's a huge disturbance going on in the Middle Ring."

"What?!"

"I thought you'd might like to know, Fire Lord, since the disturbance is in the Middle Ring the Dai Li will surely be called upon to deal with the situation."

"Smart, pour fuel directly on to the fire." Aang said.

"We have to get to the Earth Kingdom now!" Zuko commanded. "Katara and Suki are there."

"What!"

"We'll take one of my war balloons." Zuko told Aang as the two ran down the long hallway.

"Should we tell Sokka and Toph?"

"There's no time."

By the time Zuko got to the war balloon hanger he was completely out of breath but Aang wasn't even winded. He airbent himself into the war balloon.

"Hurry up, Zuko!"

He ignored Aang and got on the balloon and began bending fire into the boiler. A few moments later the balloon began to rise from it's dock.

"Katara and Suki will be all right." Zuko said. "They can handle themselves."

* * *

As soon as Katara had seen Jing smirk at Jia she had started bending water out of her wineskin. When the large stone dropped down she formed a water blade and cut the stone in two and then bent out more water to push the stone pieces away. The two halves of the stone fell on either side of her and Suki.

Jing wasted no time and bent one half of the stone up from the floor as Katara let out a whip of water and coiled it around Jing's wrist. She used the water whip to force Jing's arm to the side causing her to hurl the stone she was bending. The stone hit the wall hard and it exploded into powder that flew every where and covered every one in a thin layer of grit. Jia had bent up the other half of the stone and bent it directly towards Suki's face. Katara spun around from her confrontation with Jing and shot out another water whip around Suki's waist and spun her out of harm's way.

"Thanks Katara."

"Any time."

As Jia moved into another earthbending stance Suki swept Jia's foot out from underneath her and gave a few quick punches to her left shoulder as she was falling to the ground.

"What did you do to me?" Jia cried.

"Blocked your chi, don't worry after awhile you'll get your bending back." Suki said and then chi blocked her right shoulder.

"Jia!" Jing shouted and stared at her sister lying haplessly on the floor.

Katara used the distraction to bend more water out of her wineskin and then directed it at Jing so that it formed a ring around her waist. She bent the ring of water into solid ice trapping Jing's arms at her sides.

"Well, Suki said as she dusted the stone powder off her clothes, that escalated quickly."

"I can't believe I ever thought you two were heroes." Jing sneered. "You two are nothing more than Fire Nation apologist."

"The Fire Nation killed my mother." Katara said barely able to contain the rage that was building inside of her. "I'll never forget what they've done, but that still doesn't give you the right to play judge, jury and executioner."

Jia rolled her eyes. "I'm over your speeches Mighty Katara."

"More like Moon betrayer Katara." Jing said.

Katara snorted. "Is that the best you got?"

"Best I got for an ash maker whore."

"Shut your mouth unless you want me to shut it for you." Suki threatened.

"I'm not scared of you, you scrawny little bitch!"

Suki leapt forward but Katara grabbed her arm.

"Let me go, Katara!"

"I'd love to, but the Dai Li will probably be here any second. We don't need the attention or the trouble."

"You are so lucky." Suki said.

Jing laughed. "You're right I am, but you know who isn't, the two of you. Good luck getting out of here. I'll never bend the wall down for you."

There wasn't enough water in Katara's wineskin to cut down the stone wall, but there was probably water somewhere else in the shop. Once she had bent water without seeing it but in that case she still knew where the water source was, this was completely different from that as she didn't know where the water was at all, but that didn't mean she couldn't feel it. Water gave off it's own energy that she could feel when she bent it. Maybe she could feel the water's energy when she wasn't bending it if she concentrated hard enough.

"You know eventually someone is going to want into this shop." Suki said. "If it's the Dai Li there's no way you're gonna keep them out."

"The Dai Li knows who the Snuff Squad is and they know what we're doing. They won't stop us they hate the Fire Nation just as much as we do." Jing said.

Katara could feel the water. It was in the next room over probably in a sink or a cistern but since she couldn't see through walls she didn't know. All she did know was that there was water there and she could bend it. She had to concentrate all of her energy, but she managed to bend the water away from it's hidden source and form an aqua arm. Even with the water she had just bent out it would still take quite some time for her to cut through all of that stone.

"So what are you going to do keep us here forever?" Suki demanded.

"I guess that's entirely up to you now isn't it." Jia said.

Katara began to work on the stone wall. Slicing at it with the water blade she formed.

Suki began to look around the boutique. "There has to be another way out of here. I'm going to find it."

* * *

Zuko and Aang jumped out of the war balloon and hit the ground running before it even touched down to the ground.

"I don't see anything out of place do you?" Aang asked as they ran down the main thoroughfare. A second later a group of screaming people ran past them.

"That way!" Zuko said and pointed in the opposite direction the group of people were running from. Dai Li agents were arriving on the scene just as they were.

Two of the Dai Li agents picked up a huge stone that lie in the middle of the street and smashed it into a stone wall that was covering the facade's of one of the fancy boutique, beside then two more Dai Li agents bent the other portion of the wall down.

"Zuko!" Katara cried out from inside of the boutique. "We're over here."

Zuko ran into the shop his boots crunching on broken glass as he did. He pulled Katara into his arms. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." She said.

"Which is more than I can say for these two." Suki said and pointed to two girls. One was trapped in a ring of ice and the other was lying on the floor.

"You really are an ash maker whore Katara." Jing said. "It all makes sense now. You're literally in bed with the Fire Nation!"

"Shut your ignorant peasant mouth!" Zuko shouted.

"Or what? You'll kill me or will you just burn down the shop with me and my sister in it?" Jing spat at Zuko and a line of her saliva hit him on the cheek.

Zuko let out an angry breath and steam came rolling out along with it. He took a step forward towards Jing but Aang stepped between them.

"ENOUGH!" Aang shouted. "Zuko isn't your enemy anymore than I am."

"You're pathetic." Jia said. "You just prove that the Snuff Squad is on the right side of history. The Avatar siding with an ash maker. Pathetic."

"We'll handle this from here." Avatar, Fire Lord." A Dai Li agent said. "This is an Earth Kingdom matter after all."

"The world is my matter." Aang said.

"Mines too." Zuko said.

"Why that might be true you have no real legal power here in the Earth Kingdom. Now, if you please, we'll handle this."

Knowing that there was nothing that he could do Zuko grudgingly left the boutique with Katara by his side and Suki and Aang following after.

"How did you know we where here?" Katara asked.

"I didn't. I was only informed that there was a huge disturbance in the Middle Ring, and I came as fast as I could." Just the thought that Katara could be in danger was enough motivation for him to move heaven and earth.

"So, what was that all about?"Aang asked.

"Something called the Snuff Squad. I guess." Suki said. "Seems their main objective is to drive everyone from the Fire Nation out of the Earth Kingdom."

"My advisory council warned me that anti Fire Nation sentiment was on the rise. I'm afraid this is only just the beginning."

"The Snuff Squad is dangerous, but I doubt the Dai Li will be doing anything to stop them." Katara said.

"That's where I come in." Aang said.

"That's where we all come in." Suki said. "This is Team Avatar's problem."

"Yeah, Zuko agreed, it is. We have to get back to the Fire Nation and get the gang together. It's time we all had a talk."

After the incident in the Earth Kingdom the group had flown back to the Fire Nation. As he stepped foot into the palace he had gathered Toph and Sokka and now the gang was gathered in Zuko's room so that he could fill them in on what his advisers had told him.

"No way. No freaking way!" Toph shouted. "My dad is NOT going to be come Earth King."

"I said it was a rumor." Zuko explained.

Toph jumped up and balled up her fist. "I'm going to go home right now and make my father tell me what he thinks he's doing."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Sokka asked. "Maybe it's another trap."

"There's no trap that my father could make that would hold me."

"Still, Katara said, I think it's best you stay here until we really know what's going on."

"Hello!" Aang said and waved his arms. "We're missing the bigger picture here. What are we going to do if Kuei abdicates?"

"For one I'm not being a princess." Toph said.

"If your father takes the throne you won't have a choice." Zuko said. "That's how it works."

"This is a bad move." Sokka said. "There's too much political turmoil as it is. Why would anyone want to become King now?"

"Well that's just the problem. Rumor has it that Kuei isn't up for the job mentally."Zuko admitted.

"Well neither are you, but you're still the Fire Lord." Toph pointed out.

"Thanks for your vote of confidence."

"Any time!"

"Look, before I confront the Earth King I'm going to visit with your father and ask him if the rumors are true, Toph. If you want to you can come along with me."

"O.K., but this field trip better be life changing. You owe me."

"Be careful." Sokka warned. "It's not just the earthbenders that are going to go after you. You're going to have people coming for you at all sides."

"About that." Zuko began. "I was wondering if you could observe my servants and write a report to help me sort out who I can trust and who I can't."

"I can do that. In the meantime you might want to beef up your protection."

"The Kyoshi warriors would be happy to help." Suki said. "Ty Lee and I have been teaching the other warriors chi blocking they're ready to start putting their hard work to practical use."

"Thanks, but I think I'm good for now." Zuko said. He could feel Katara staring at him and he already knew without looking at her that she was upset that he didn't take Suki up on her offer for extra protection. Katara didn't understand that he couldn't afford to look weak in front of the rest of the world. He needed for the Fire Nation to look as stable as possible if he hoped for any kind of negotiations of peace. Everyone was either expecting him to fail or to be just as tyrannical as his father he had to show from the start that he was his own Fire Lord.

"O.K., but it's an opened ended offer." Suki said.

Zuko nodded. "We'll leave for the Earth Kingdom first thing in the morning, Toph."

"Good then we can put an end to all of this my dad becoming Earth King nonsense."

"There's one more thing." Zuko said. "It's my father he's-"

"Broken." Aang said. "I think I broke him when I took his bending away."

"And I'm supposed to, what, feel bad about this?" Sokka asked.

"You didn't break him." Zuko told Aang. "He was broken a long time ago, but none of that matters. I'm going to try and cure him, not only because it's the right thing for me to do, but also because he's the only one who can tell me where my mother is."

"Did you ever think that this is his punishment?" Sokka asked.

"His punishment should have to be living with the consequences of his decisions and not near complete mental incapacitation."

"Yeah, that makes more sense, Sokka agreed, but how do you even know he'll tell you the truth about your mother if he does get better?"

"I don't. It's a long shot in the dark but it's the only one I've got."

"Not really." Sokka said. "The clues are out there you just need to find them, and hey, I'm always up for a bit of detective work."

"You're the Fire Lord so start sticking your nose where it doesn't belong."

"Plus we've made a lot of contacts in our travels someone we've talked to is bound to know something." Suki added.

Zuko felt a hand squeeze his shoulder and looked up into Katara's eyes. "You don't have to do this by yourself, Zuko. You're not alone anymore."

He closed his eyes and nodded. "I know." He said and opened his eyes. "It's just going to take some getting used to before the feeling sticks."

Zuko had been quiet ever since they'd gotten back from their impromptu meeting about the Earth King. Katara wondered where he went in his mind when he disappeared from the world. Was he thinking about his mother? Or his father? Or both?

"I've got another meeting to attend. This one shouldn't take too long, and I thought after I was done with my meeting and before the dinner with the air nomads we could finally go for that walk around the Royal Gardens."

"I'd like that."

Zuko kissed her. "Good. I'll try and be back as quick as possible."

"Is it O.K. if I hang out here until you get back?"

"Of course. Make yourself comfortable the palace is your home too."

Katara picked a book she'd borrowed form the Royal Library and lie down on Zuko's huge bed and began to read a story about a star spirit that fell in love with a handsome young sailor. Every night the sailor prayed to the star spirit to guide him on his way. She was in the middle of reading an engrossing part of the story where the star spirit asks her mother the sky spirit to turn her human so she can meet the sailor. As always when reading everything else fell away and the minutes passed like seconds. Toph could have been earthbending right next to her and she wouldn't have noticed.

"Wow, this room looks bigger than I remembered, of course everything looks bigger when you get out of jail."

Katara looked up from her book , jerked out of the world of spirits and sailors, to see that Mai was standing in the doorway of Zuko's bedroom. She shoved the bookmark in her book and put it on the nightstand.

"I see you're back from Omashu." She said as she rose from Zuko's bed. Her tone wasn't unfriendly but it wasn't friendly either. This was Zuko's room and she didn't have the right to kick Mai out, but it didn't mean she had to like her showing up unannounced.

"Yeah, as it turns out my father isn't the most popular man in Omashu. He thought we'd be safer here."

"Right. Can I help you with something?" Katara asked

"The guards let me in since they all know me so well around here." Mai drawled.

Katara put her hand on her hip and shifted her weight to one side.

"I came to see Zuko. I need to talk to him."

"Sorry, he's away on official Fire Nation business."

"Oh." Mai said with such genuine disappointment that Katara actually felt sorry for her.

"Is there anything I can do to help" She asked her tone softer and friendlier this time."

Mai stared at Katara for a long time as if trying to reach some kind of conclusion. Finally she looked up at Katara through her bangs. "I won't be here when he gets back, so can you just tell him my father is sending my mother, brother and I out to the Fire Nation backwoods and I probably won't be back for awhile."

"Of course. I'll tell him."

"Well, uuh, thanks I guess." Mai said and turned to leave the room.

Katara watched her go. She wasn't sure what to think of Mai. Zuko didn't talk much about her or his relationship with her and the few encounters that she did have with Mai weren't on friendly terms. She doubted that the two of them would ever be friends, but she didn't want them to be enemies either. The best she could hope for was that they could have civil discussions with one another. From what she had seen of Mai personally Katara couldn't see what Zuko saw in her. She didn't seem to care about anything apart from Zuko. Not her country or her friends or even her family. Back in Omashu she didn't even act like she cared that Azula was using her brother as bait to capture Aang. Best friend or not;fire Lord's daughter or not there was no way she'd ever let Azula do something like that to Sokka.

Katara picked up her book off of the nightstand but put it back down. Her mind was too congested with thoughts to concentrate on reading so she went for a walk around the palace instead. Katara hated being in the fire palace alone. It felt so cold and intimidating nothing about the palace felt soft. Every single inch of the place seemed to be some testament to the Fire Nation's power. When she became Fire Lady she would have to bring some softness to the palace. Katara kept walking until she ended up in the kitchen where the preparations for tonight's dinner with Dolma and the rest of the air nomads was going on. Zuko had gone over every detail of the menu with Aang to make sure everything was air nomad approved.

"Mistress Katara, hello." One of the cooks said when they spotted her looking into the kitchen. "My name is Umeko. I'm the head cook around here."

"Hello." She said and gave a small wave. "I was just looking in on your preparations for tonight's dinner. Zuko told me how much he used to love coming into the kitchen when he was younger."

"Ah, yes. The Fire Lord was such a cute little thing. Always wanting to help out any way that he could which mostly involved eating."

"Well, is there anything I can do to help?"

"Oh no, Mistress Katara." Umeko said. "It wouldn't be right for you to be working in the kitchen. Not the future Fire Lady."

"I'm not Fire Lady yet, and I really wouldn't mind." Katara said.

"A word of advice Mistress." Umeko said. "It's best not to rock the proverbial boat. The Fire Nation is a tradition rich country the Royal court doesn't do so well with change. Best to ease into things."

"Oh, well if you're sure then." Katara said and left the kitchen. There was no need to argue with Umeko this was only a small matter and Zuko was having enough trouble with the big matters as it where. "I should probably go get ready anyway." She turned from the kitchen and walked all the way back to her room and stood in front of her wardrobe trying to figure out what she was going to wear for tonight's dinner. Her life would consist of a lot of important dinners from here on out. What she wore to these dinners would be a big as deal as the dinners themselves. Zuko had given her access to the Royal Wardrobe. There were an endless amount of dresses in difference sizes colors and fabrics. It was sheer bliss just to behold them all.

She chose a orangish-red silk sarong because the colors were appropriate for both the Fire Nation and the Air Nomads. She pulled her hair back into a bun and secured it with a ribbon and then added a sun poesy from the royal garden. She wore gold earrings and gold bangles on her arms. When she completed the look with a pair of matching gold sandals she went to Zuko's room to see if he was back from his meeting.

"Katara!" Zuko exclaimed when he saw her. "You look amazing."

"Thank you. I had an amazing wardrobe so that made things easier."

"Aang will probably be here any minute, sorry but we won't have time for that walk around the gardens." Zuko said.

"That's O.K. we'll have time for that later. Right now the most important thing is Aang and the Air Nomads" Katara said.

Zuko nodded his head in agreement. "This dinner is going to be so strange, and not just because of the Air Nomads, but because we're having the dinner in a place that is responsible for their near genocide."

"It is strange, but the important part is that you're not responsible for their near genocide. She held out her arm for Zuko to take. "Shall we go and meet the others before the Air Nomads get here?" Katara asked.

"Yes." Zuko said taking her arm. "Let's go."

Sokka, Suki, and Toph were all waiting in the grand entrance hall. Each of them were dressed impeccably. Toph was wearing a yellow cheongsam qipao with red flowers and birds embroidered on it. Suki was wearing a yukata with the print of spring flowers. Sokka had stuck with wearing dress robes much like Zuko wore and it was weird to see her brother dressed up like Fire Nation Royalty.

"This feels weird." Sokka said as if reading Katara's thoughts. "I feel like a Fire Nation goon."

"Sorry, but we don't have much of the way in blue material in the palace." Zuko said.

"Fire Lord Zuko, your guest have arrived." The doorman announced.

Katara's stomach flip flopped. Zuko took her arm again and they advanced towards the front doors of the grand hall. Nobody spoke a word. To be in this moment was beyond anything she had the capability of putting into comparison.

The doorman opened the doors and Aang stepped into the grand hall ahead of his new found friends.

"Everyone. I'd like you to meet Dolma the head of Council of Elders, her husband Tezin and their son Kuchen." Aang announced.

Dolma was easily one of the most beautiful women that Katara had ever seen in her life. She walked into the Fire Nation Palace as if she were floating on air. She had the grace of the spirits about her. She was tall; almost as tall as Avatar Kyoshi had been. She was bald but that didn't detract from her beauty, in fact Katara thought it only added to it. Her husband was a handsome man who was even taller than his wife. He was lean but muscular his piercing silvery-gray eyes swept around the room sizing everyone up. Kuchen had taken the best features of both is parents he had the kind of looks that turned heads. He was taller than his mother, but not as tall as his father. He bounced up and down on the balls of his feet as if he were expecting an attack any minute now.

"Welcome, Zuko said and bowed, to the Fire Nation. It is an honor that you would come to visit after all that my Nation has done. Though I know it can't make up for the gross unprovoked violence against your people, I would like to extend my sincerest apology. I can promise you right now that as long as I am Fire Lord I will do everything within my power to make sure the past does not repeat it's self and I will assist in the rebuilding of the air temples in anyway that you will allow me."

"Thank you Fire Lord." Dolma said. She had a gentle melodic voice. "Aang told us of how you helped to stop your father."

"Dolma, Aang began, these are my friends Katara, Sokka, Suki, and Toph."

"How come you guys have purple tattoos?" Sokka asked.

"Sokka!" Katara cried.

Kuchen laughed. "It's fine, Katara. I'm a soldier in The Airbending Defense."

"But I thought that Air Nomads didn't have armies." Suki said.

"Things change." Tenzin replied. "We are just a small but much needed sect of air nomads."

Katara noticed that everyone was staring at Aang while Tenzin spoke.

"Is dinner ready yet?" Aang asked pretending not to notice that everyone was staring at him.

"Yes, Zuko said, right this way."

This was going to be one strange and awkward dinner. Katara thought.

The grand dining hall had been laid with all the finest finery the Fire Nation palace had to offer. Katara sat next to Zuko and her brother sat next to her. Aang sat next to Kuchen and Dolma sat across from Katara.

The palace staff began to serve the first course of their meal. The table was quiet as everyone was so concentrated on eating without embarrassing themselves. Katara wished that she could think of something to say to break the ice, but what did you say to people you thought had died out over one hundred years ago?

"So, do you plan on returning to the air temples now that the war is over?" Zuko asked.

"Some of us will, but as you can imagine there are quite a few who would wish to remain in the Spirit World or on the Sea Lion Turtle."

"I plan on returning to the air temples and guarding there." Kuchen said. "If the past comes back to haunt us I'd much rather my people be safe than sorry this time."

"Of course." Zuko said. "I understand."

Katara looked at Zuko's face. He looked as if he'd been slapped. It wasn't going to be easy to win over the Air Nomads but Katara knew that her boyfriend had it in him to do it. He wasn't one to back down from a challenge.

"Which air temple do you plan on living in?" Suki asked.

"The Western air temple, it's where my great great great grand mother Avatar Yangchen was from."

"Small world, Sokka said, You're a direct descendant of Avatar Yangchen and Zuko is the direct descendants of Avatar Roku."

Kuchen looked up from his plate. "You're a descendant of Roku?"

"Yes, he was my great grand father on my mother's side."

"You're turning out to be quite the paradox, Fire Lord Zuko." Kuchen said.

"Aang didn't mention anything about your mother, I'd like to meet her." Dolma said.

"My father banished my mother from the palace when I was a child." Zuko said. "I haven't seen her since."

"I am sorry to hear that."

"I'm going to try and find her after I get my affairs settled."

"If you need assistance I'd be willing to help." Kuchen offered.

"You would?" Zuko said his fork paused in mid air.

"Yes. You helped put an end to the war and put your father in jail, and besides I've been eager to explore the mainland and so has Minh."

"We could always use an extra set of eyes and an extar sky bison." Zuko said.

"Did you fly here on Minh?" Katara asked. "I'd love to meet her after dinner if you don't mind."

"I don't mind. You can all meet her if you like. She's with Appa right now."

"You left her with Appa! They're probably out there right now making little Appa's!" Sokka cried.

"That was the plan."

"Oh." Sokka said it seem to take a few seconds before Kuchen's words percolated through to Sokka's brain. "Well, congratulations Appa!"

Tenzin let out a belly laugh.

Katara smirked. Leave it to her brother to break the ice in a way that nobody else could. There were times like now when his irreverence was charming.

When the second course came everyone was more relaxed. Katara was thoroughly enjoying airbending cuisine. The sky pad noodles were a new favorite of hers Aang had never cooked, probably because he didn't know how or never had too, but Katara had been cooking since she was eight years old so when others took the time to cook for her she really enjoyed it. She would have to be sure and thank Umeko.

"I didn't know what to expect when I first arrived here." Dolma said. "But I must say the company has been most pleasant."

Zuko beamed. "I'm happy to hear that. I know that it wasn't easy for you to come here, sometimes it's not even easy for me to be here, but I asked you hear because I want you to know that you are always welcome in the Fire Nation. I am not my father. I am not what the Fire Nation has represented for the last one hundred years. I know my words aren't enough, but you will see by my actions that I mean what I say."

Katara loved Zuko's smile because he didn't smile often, but when he did it was always sincere. Like the sun breaking through the clouds.

By the last course everyone was too full to move or talk. They all sat around in reflective silence. As the servants cleared away the dishes Zuko was beginning to think the dinner was going to go off with out a hitch, but as Reo slipped into the room he knew he'd been a fool. He was never that lucky. Automatically his hand went up to his face and he pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers.

"Fire Lord, if I may have a word with you out in the hall."

"You'll excuse me." Zuko said as he got out of his seat and followed Reo out into the hallway. "What is it this time?"

"Azula, she tried to break out of her confinement and severely injured two of the guards. They will have to be hospitalized."

"What happened?"

"She convinced one of the guards that if he helped her escape he would be greatly rewarded once she took the throne away from you. The guard pretended that Azula was injured in her cell and called for help. Since it was the guard and not Azula that had called for help the two guards assumed that Azula was really injured, and when they went into her cell to assist her she attacked them."

It didn't take long at all for Azula to completely turn back to her old self or the only self she knew how to be. She still had yet to learn anything about why she was in the situation she was in.

"What happened to the guard who conspired with my sister?"

"He's been taking to Boiling Rock."

"Maybe I should send Azula there. A day in an isolation cooler might make her rethink things."

"Perhaps that would be for the best. Azula has been quite hard to handle for some time now."

"Then why wasn't I informed earlier?" Zuko snapped. I told you to contact me immediately if she became a problem."

"I know Fire Lord, I am to blame. I thought I could handle the situation myself as you seemed to be tasked with enough."

"Reo, I don't need a baby-sitter, I need an advisor. When I give you a command I expect you to follow it to the letter. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Fire Lord."

"I will not have this conversation with you again."

"Yes, Fire Lord."

"Good, now take me to my sister."

How could he have forgotten about his sister? He still had a scar on his chest and it should have served as a constant reminder that Azula wasn't going to stay docile forever.

"Is everything all right Fire Lord?" Dolma asked. She had stepped out into the hallway along with everyone else.

"I'm afraid I have family business to attend to."

"Is it your father?" Sokka asked.

There was no point in trying to hide it. They would all find out sooner or later.

"It's Azula. She tried to escape and injured two of the guards. It's pretty bad they'll have to be hospitalized. I don't want to place her in an isolation cooler, but I can't have her injuring people all of the time. After what happened to my father I'm not sure I want to take her bending away either."

"What happened to your father?" Tenzin asked.

"He hasn't been the same since- he hasn't been himself lately."

"You can say it." Aang said. "Ozai hasn't been the same since I took his bending away."

"It's like my father's not himself it's like he's lost inside of himself. If there's a chance that might happen to Azula I can't risk it."

"Let us take her." Dolma offered. "She can't bend in the spirit world."

"Even still she can be pretty dangerous." Katara said.

"It's nothing that we can't handle." Kuchen said.

"I don't know. What would you do with her while she was there?" Zuko asked.

"She can live in the monastery with the sisters and work with the land and the animals." Dolma explained.

"I don't think you want my sister working with animals. She isn't very nice to them."

"She will learn."

"Umh, obviously you don't know what Azula is like." Toph said

"The sisters know what their doing. We heal the mind body and soul in the Spirit World. We will offer that much to Azula."

"Even after everything she's done, do you even know what she's done?" Sokka asked.

"Uh, yeah." Aang said. "I kind of told her all about our summer together."

"I believe it's not too late for Azula. Moving forward doesn't always mean doing the things you want to do. Both the universe and Azula need healing."

"I'll do it, but if my sister acts out or harms anyone within the first three months she's going to Boiling Rock. I should go talk to her and explain to her what's going on."

As he walked his way to the war room to deal with his sister he came to the realization that all of the fault didn't lie with Reo. He knew that his sister had been starting to act like her old self, but he had not wanted to deal with her. He had foolishly chosen to believe that the guards would be able to handle her.

"Come to pity me?" Azula asked as soon as he stepped foot into her room. She was sitting in her chair as if it where a throne and her eyes looked down on him as if she were the Fire Lord and he was her lowly subject.

"I've come to tell you that what you did is unacceptable and it will not go unpunished."

"Look at you Zuzu, thinking you're the Fire Lord."

"I  _am_  the Fire Lord!"

"In name, maybe, his sister scoffed, but not in much else."

"You have two choices. You can go to Boiling Rock or go to the Spirit World for therapy."

"You're just loving this aren't you?" Azula drawled. "Finally the older brother gets to beat down the little sister that he never could."

"What's it going to be?" He couldn't let his sister get into his head. She was a master manipulator who could play him like a tsungi horn, but she wasn't in charge he was. He was Fire Lord no matter how much she tried to undermined him.

"I don't need to make a choice. All I need to do is sit back and wait until someone assassinates you. I give it two months top."

"Fine. Boiling Rock it is." He said and spun on his heels and left the room.

"Wait!" Azula cried out.

Zuko stopped on the spot and turned to face his sister. "Yes?"

* * *

"You all right, Toph?" Zuko asked. She looked as sleepy as he felt. He hadn't slept at all last night from worrying. If only he could talk to his uncle, but he didn't want to bother him. He didn't send out the armed courier to message is uncle like he told Katara he would. Being Fire Lord was his job and not his uncle's. He just wanted his uncle to be happy, and running his tea shop and staying away from the Fire Nation is what made his uncle happy. Zuko could not deny him that.

"I'm fine!" Toph snapped. "Why?"

"You haven't eaten anything." He hadn't eaten much himself, but he felt it was important that Toph eat something. If Aang was like his little brother then Toph was his little sister, and he wanted to make it up to her for their last unsuccessful field trip.

"I can't. My stomach gets twisted up with anger every time I think about seeing my dad again." She admitted.

"I know the feeling."

"I'm blind, but my parents are the ones who don't see. They don't see me. They think I'm some weak little porcelain doll. They'd keep me on a shelf with the rest of their collectibles if they could."

"I can't believe that your parents saw you fight and still think of you as weak, but I guess it scares them more to realize that your capable. It also means they would have to admit they were wrong about who they thought you were."

"If parents can't love their kids unless they turn out exactly the way they want them to why do they even bother having them in the first place?"

"I wish I could tell you." He answered truthfully. "I guess it's because parents always think they'll be different than their parents. They see all the mistakes there parents make and think they won't do the same. That's where the whole not seeing us as our own people starts."

"Wow. When did you get wise?" Toph asked.

"I confronted my father on the day of Black Sun and I think that helped a lot. I'm going to see your father for diplomatic reasons, but you're not. This could be your time to confront your father if your ready, but only if your ready."

Toph sighed. "I don't know if I'm ready or not, but I guess I'll know when we get there."

"Let's go then." Zuko said.

To arrive at the Beifong's home in a war balloon would send the wrong message so Zuko chose to take Appa instead. The sky bison was reluctant to leave because Dolma and her family had spent the night at the palace and Minh was still there. There was no doubt that in eleven months they would be celebrating the birth of sky bison calves. Now Aang just needed to find someone for Momo.

He helped Toph up on to Appa. "You O.K.?" He asked her as he grabbed the reins.

"You ask me that one more time and I'm going to punch you in the face."

"Right." He said and snapped the reins. "Yip yip!" Appa rose in to the air with a plaintive moan.

Zuko still didn't know what he was going to say to Lao Beifong he hadn't planned a speech. He wasn't even sure if Lao did plan on being King, and if he was Zuko still wasn't sure what he planned on saying. He doubted very much that he could talk him out of the plan, but if he couldn't get through to Lao then maybe he could get through to Kuei.

"Here we are." Toph said as Appa made a landing in the courtyard. "Home sweet prison."

Although he had not shown up in a Fire Nation war balloon he had shown up in full Fire Lord regalia. He didn't want Lao to forget for one second who he was talking to.

Lao came out to greet them as they made their way to the front doors.

"To what do I owe the honor of a visit from the Fire Lord?" Lao asked.

The word honor jolted him a little but he quickly recovered. "I'm here about the rumors of you becoming the next Earth King."

"They aren't rumors. I fully intend on becoming Earth King."

"No way!" Toph cried out.

"So you dare to come back home after everything you put your mother and me through." Lao said to his daughter.

"What about what you put me through?" Toph shouted back.

"Please, everyone just calm down." The world spun backwards, Zuko thought, when he was the one calming everyone down. "Without Toph's help we wouldn't have won this war. Your daughter helped to take down an entire Fire Nation airship fleet. If that fleet hadn't of been stopped most of the Earth Kingdom would be ashes by now."

"My daughter isn't a warrior."

"Yes, I am." Toph said. "I'm blind. I'm a warrior and I'm an earthbender. The greatest the world has ever seen!"

"I'm sorry but I cannot accept that." Lao said.

"I can't accept you being Earth King. I'm not a princess. I'll never be a princess and I won't live in a palace."

"Then we are at an impasse and our business here is finished." Lao lifted his hand in a gesture of dismissal. "Goodbye Fire Lord, Toph."

That had not gone well. Zuko wanted to ask Toph if she was O.K., but he didn't want to get punched in the face so he just put his hand on her shoulder. She didn't brush his hand away like he half expected her to.

"He hates me."

"No he doesn't." Zuko said. "He's scared."

"Of what, me?"

"No. He's scared that you don't need him. Blind helpless Toph needs him, but the real one is capable of taking care of herself."

"I do need him. I need him to be my father."

"I know." Zuko said and helped Toph on to the back of Appa. "One day he will too."

Toph didn't say anything for the rest of the ride back to the Fire Nation palace. He knew that she must have been feeling terrible and he wished that there was something that he could do to make things a little easier for her.

The others were waiting for them in the grand hall when they got back.

"I'm afraid the rumors are true." He told his friends. "Toph's father is planning on becoming Earth King."

"Oh." Katara said. "So what does that mean for the other three nations?"

"I'm not sure yet, but probably nothing good."

"I'm going to go find some boulders to smash." Toph announced. "Don't come looking for me."

"I'll take that as a sign that things didn't go well between Toph and her father." Sokka said.

"You'd be right." Zuko said. "Her father still refuses to accept Toph for who she is."

"What a jerk!" Sokka snarled. "I should go over there and introduce my fist to his face."

"Calm down there killer." Katara said.

"I'm going to have to inform my advisors." Another meeting. Another problem. Another chance for him to mess things up. Only this time it was much worse because it wouldn't be just him who suffered it would be the entire Fire Nation.

"Why don't you have something to eat first." Katara said.

"I'm not hungry." Zuko lied. He'd only had toast for breakfast. "I need to deal with this first." He started down the hall way. It seemed to grow longer and longer with each step, and each step he took seemed as if he were walking in quicksand. He closed his eyes and put his hands on the wall for a second to steady himself. The world was cool, dark, and quiet standing where he was. He wished that it could stay that way for more than just one moment.

"Zuko!" Katara cried as her boyfriend slumped down the wall and fell to the floor. She ran to his side and rolled him over on his back.

"He's probably exhausted he's been running himself pretty ragged lately." Sokka said. He bent down and lifted Zuko up in a fireman's carry.

"Not to mention he never fully recovered from when Azula shot him." Katara said. "I told him to ask Iroh for help, but of course he didn't do it. He keeps convincing himself he as to do this all on his own." She followed her brother down the long hallway towards Zuko's room.

"Why don't you ask for Iroh's help?" Suki suggested. "I know you don't want to go against Zuko, but if it's in the best interest of his health I think it's the lesser of the two evils."

"I think you're right." Katara sat at Zuko's desk and penned a quick letter to Iroh and had it flown over to the Earth Kingdom at once. Iroh arrived in the Fire Nation only a few short hours later. By that time Katara had Zuko safely tucked away in his own bed. He hadn't woken up since he'd first collapsed but both she and Dr. Yamamato had checked him over to make sure that he was fine, and except for the physical and mental exhaustion he was.

"Thank you for coming, Iroh." Katara said.

"No need for thanks, but I do want to thank you for calling me here."

"I know Zuko is going to be upset with me, but I'm really worried about him. He's pushing himself too hard trying to become the perfect Fire Lord. He thinks if he tries hard enough he can instantly fix all of the Fire Nations problems."

"My nephew has always felt the need to please others. That is why he is carrying the weight of the last hundred years on his shoulders. I should have known that it would be too heavy a burden for him to carry alone. The Fire Nation is spiritually and physically fragmented right now to expect Zuko to deal with one hundred years of fallout on his own is unfair, and in his state is neither good for him or the Fire Nation. I think that is time I stop trying to run from my past and return home to my real destiny."

"Which is?" Sokka asked.

"To make sure that the Fire Nation's past is never to repeat itself."

"In the meantime what do we do about Zuko?" Katara asked.

"What my nephew needs is a good vacation. A few days at the beach house should do it. Of course he will need his friends to come along in order for it to feel like a real vacation."

"It would be nice to slow down for a few days." Suki said.

"Especially on the beach." Sokka said.

"You're welcome to come if you want to." Katara said to Kuchen. "If you're going to be looking after Azula for the next three months you're going to need a few days in paradise."

"I can't pass up an opportunity to checkout more of the mainland."

"Good. Then it's settled. As soon as Toph gets back and Zuko wakes up we'll be on our way."

While Zuko was catching up on some much needed sleep Katara packed a bag for him to take to the beach house. She hadn't told him about Mai's visit and didn't plan on telling him during their last few days either, she didn't care what it looked like, Zuko needed a few carefree days and so did she.

Toph didn't come back until almost midnight.

"So, what's going on? What I miss?"

"We're going back to the beach house because Zuko still doesn't know how to ask for help and exhausted himself to the point of passing out."

"Oh. I'll go pack."

* * *

Zuko didn't wake up until the next morning, but Katara was right by his side when he did.

"What happened?" He ask his voice came out dry and scratchy.

Katara handed him a glass of water from his nightstand table. "Here drink this."

Zuko did as she ordered.

"You passed out from exhaustion so I called your uncle here."

"You what!"

"Do not be upset with Katara." Iroh said from the door way. "She only did what you should have done."

"But I didn't want to bother you, uncle."

"You are not bothering me, Fire Lord Zuko. I think perhaps I was a bit too hasty in retireing. Sitting around and playing pai sho all day doesn't suit me."

"What does that mean, Uncle?"

"It means I am needed here in the Fire Nation for a little while longer. My tea shop and my game of pai sho will both be waiting there for me in the Earth Kingdom when it is time for me to return. Go relax now, Fire Lord. You've earned it."

"I've already packed your bags." Katara said.

Zuko let out a theatrical sigh. "Fine. I'll go."

"Don't worry about things back here." Iroh said. "The Fire Nation will not collapse if you take a few days off to take care of yourself, and next time call me when you need help."

"I will." Zuko said as his uncle hugged him close. "And thank you for loving my hard headed nephew."

"You're welcome." Katara said with a laugh and hugged Iroh.

"If we're going let's go now." Zuko said.

"Not until you eat something first. Sit tight and I'll go get you something to eat."

She didn't stay around to listen to her boyfriend protest. She just went to the kitchen, but stopped in the middle of the room when she heard a heated discussion going on in the scullery.

"I'm telling you Masumi not only will it not work, but it's the wrong thing to do to Miko." A voice said. Katara knew that voice. It was Umeko the head cook and she was talking to Masumi the head Maid. What was she talking about?

"What do you know about raising a daughter?" Masumi asked. "You have no children. That's why you've always been partial to Zuko ever since he was a little boy."

"Well someone had too!" Umeko snapped. "With the way his father treated him."

"Ozai treated that boy the way he did for a reason, and when he stopped doing it look at what we got for a Fire Lord, a weak traitor who'd rather put a water tribe peasant on the throne than a woman from his own Nation."

"You don't even know her."

"I know she's from the Water tribe and no where good enough for the Fire Lord or the Fire Nation."

"I thought you said he was a weak traitor."

"He is, but he'll be even weaker with that water tribe wench at his side. Can you imagine having a waterbender for a Fire Lady? The Fire Nation will be come a laughingstock I tell you."

"You'd better stop talking like that. It could be seen as treason." Umeko hissed.

"You just mind your own business if you know what's good for you." Masumi said.

Katara was shaking so much she wouldn't have been surprised if she had shaken herself into pieces. She was so angry she wanted to punch someone, namely Masumi, in the face. Only the thought of protecting Zuko had stopped her from going into the Scullery and confronting Masumi. She would have loved to show her just what this waterbending peasant could do, but then Masumi would never admit to whatever it was that she was up to. Katara took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She wouldn't tell Zuko about this, but she would have Iroh look into the matter. Besides if she told Zuko about this situation he would refuse to take time off to recover and only make himself sicker. Quickly she grabbed some food from the pantry and hurried down the hall back to Zuko's room.

"I invited Kuchen to come along to the beach house I hope you don't mind." Katara said as she stepped back into Zuko's room. She set the food that she had brought from the kitchen on a small table.

"I'm not, but I still don't know what to make of him. I can't tell if he likes me or hates me."

"Could be that he hates himself for liking you." Katara said. "I know when I started falling for you I felt really guilty. I felt like I was betraying my mother and my people."

"That maybe the case or maybe it's not, but either way I think it's best to keep a close eye on him for now."

* * *

Having two sky bison meant that the group could now split up on their way to the beach house. Kuchen, Aang and Toph all flew over on Minh and Appa became the couple carrying bison.

"Wow this place is amazing." Kuchen said once he spotted the beach house. Appa landed in the courtyard and a few moments later Minh landed beside him.

"Wait until you see the inside." Sokka said.

Zuko gave Kuchen a tour then showed him to his room. Everyone else would sleep in the same rooms they had last time.

"When do we eat?" Sokka asked. "I'm starting to get hungry."

"Eat what? We haven't gone shopping yet."Aang said.

"There's food." Zuko reassured Sokka and Aang. "I've hired some locals from the near by village to be caretakers for the beach house."

"It does look a lot nicer in here." Suki said.

"They even got all of the old fountains going again."

"Show me." Katara said and took Zuko's hand. They never got to have their walk around the Royal Gardens but that didn't mean they still couldn't have some alone time together.

"I forgot how beautiful the courtyard looks when all of the fountains are running." Zuko mused.

"It is amazing."

They walked over to a stone bench and sat down on it together. "Thanks for calling my uncle. I didn't want to admit it, but I still need him."

"He needs you to. So do I."

"I need you too." He wrapped his arm around her. "I'm sorry if I push you away sometimes. I just don't want others getting hurt because of the mistakes I make. I don't mean to push you away it just happens, but I'll never run away. No matter what I'll always be here when you need me, and that something that not even distance can change."

It was mid after noon and hotter than the inside of a dragon's mouth. The gang was supposed to be doing something to commemorate their last full day together but everyone felt too hot and sweaty to move. The last day at the beach house came fast. So fast in fact that Zuko was half convinced that the world must have skipped a day. At first he been reluctant to come here now he was even more reluctant to leave.

"Man is it hot!" Toph cried.

"Yeah, feels like it shot up ten degrees in the last ten seconds." Sokka said.

"Well I don't know about the rest of you, Zuko said, but I'm going to get changed and go swimming."

Suki nodded. "Then we can grill out on the beach. It'll be like old times."

"Don't worry Kuchen." Zuko said. "I'm sure I've got some swim trunks that you can wear." After finding a pair of swimming trunks for Kuchen he put on his own and grabbed a towel from his bathroom.

Katara came out of her room and Zuko couldn't help but stare. She had pulled her hair up into a high ponytail and was wearing a new pink bikini.

"Do you like it?" She asked and spun around.

"I like it. I really like it."

"Good. I just wanted to make sure you didn't forget about me when I'm away."

"I could never forget you." He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a kiss. When they broke their kiss he took her hand and the two of them walked out on the beach together.

"Let's play shoulder wars." Suki called out when everyone had met up out on the beach.

"Play what?" Zuko asked.

"You know, that game you play in water where you sit on someone shoulders and try to knock down someone else who is also sitting on someone's shoulders into the water."

"That's a game?"

"Yeah, Sokka said, and I challenge you and Katara to a game." He ran out in the water and swam out until the water reached his waist.

"You're on, Sokka." Katara said.

Suki swam over to Sokka and perched atop his shoulders. "No bending allowed." She called.

"Don't worry I won't need it." Katara shot back.

"Uhh." Zuko said. The thought of Katara sitting on his shoulders in a bikini had rendered him speechless.

"So are we going to play, or should we just crown Suki and me as the winners and save you two the humiliation?" Sokka cried out.

"Zuko let's kick my brother's butt so we can go eat."

Katara floated onto his shoulders and he prayed that he wouldn't drop her, there was probably no coming back from dropping your girlfriend accident or not.

"Place your bets now ladies and gentleman." Toph called out like a barker at a circus.

"I'll take team Sokka and Suki." Kuchen said.

"Smart man!" Sokka cried out.

"Sugar Queen and I wrestled once, she held her own against me and that's no easy task. My money is on her."

"I'd rather not take sides." Aang said.

"Pig chicken." Toph taunted.

"Ready. Set. Go!" Kuchen cried.

Zuko tried to stable himself as Katara and Suki tried to be the first to knock each other in the water. Both girls were shouting and laughing and Aang and the others were cheering them on from the shore. The two girls seemed to be evenly matched just as he and Sokka were. In the end Suki managed to knock Katara down first.

"Non bending power!" Sokka cried and gave Suki a high five.

"That's right."

"You let me down, Katara, you let me down." Toph said.

"When it comes to hand to hand combat nobody is better than my baby." Sokka said.

Suki grabbed Sokka and planted a big kiss on his lips.

"Let's go eat before I lose my appetite." Toph grumbled.

Everyone headed back into the massive kitchen.

"What should we grill?" Katara asked.

"Chicken." Suki suggested.

"Fish." Sokka said.

"Beef." Toph said.

"Vegetables!" Aang shouted

"Why not grill it all?" Kuchen asked.

"Yeah, Sokka cried, why not."

"Don't forget the komodo sausages." Zuko said. "You can't call it grilling out if you don't have komodo sausages."

After they had got all the food they wanted the group trouped back out on to the beach. Zuko created a huge fire pit that was able to cook everything at once. Each member of the gang took over a section of the huge grill.

"Smells great." Toph said and licked her lips.

"Sure does." Sokka said and rubbed his hands together.

When the food had finished cooking everyone sat down and began to eat.

"I'm too stuffed to move. I'm just going to sleep out here on the beach." Toph groaned.

"Me too." Kuchen said.

"Yeah, I'm not going anywhere either." Sokka admitted.

"So why don't we all just sleep out on the beach." Suki suggested. "I can't think of a better way to spend our last night together than this can you?"

Appa and Minh were snuggled up together and Momo had fallen as sleep on the top of Minh's head. Toph built herself a rock tent while everyone else found their place on one of the sky bison's legs and settled down for the night.

"No, Katara said looking directly at Zuko as he wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her on the forehead. "I couldn't think of a better way to spend our last night together."

* * *

When Katara woke up in the morning she was still wrapped in Zuko's arms.

"Mmm, I got the best sleep ever." Zuko said without opening his eyes.

"Me too, wonder why that is?"

"Please, Toph said as she bent down her rock tent, it's too early in the morning to be giving me the oogies."

Katara didn't care about Toph or her oogies. She didn't care about morning breath either. She leaned over and kissed Zuko.

"So I guess this is it." Suki said. "Team Avatar is finally going their separate ways."

"Where are you going to go from here Toph?" Sokka asked. "Cuz if you need a place to stay my offer still stands."

"Thanks, but I think I'll stay in the Middle Ring for awhile and keep an eye out for the snuff squad. Someone has gotta keep the Earth Kingdom safe if my father is going to be running things."

Fine, but I'm still gonna drop in on you."

"I can hardly wait." Toph said drolly but the corners of her mouth turned up into a slight smile.

"If you hear anything about the Snuff Squad call me." Suki said. "The Kyoshi Warriors have been looking for a good battle."

"Speaking of battles." Sokka said. "Are you ready to fight the not so good fight against Azula, Kuchen?"

"My people have survived much worse than Azula. I'm sure my parents and I will be able to hold our own against her." He turned to Suki and Toph. "If you two still need rides back to the Earth Kingdom we'll have to leave now. Sorry."

Katara rand forward to hug Toph and Suki. "I'll write to you." She told Suki.

"What about me?" Toph asked.

"I'll write to you too and you can have Sokka read you the letters when he visits.

"Guess I should be going too." Aang said. "Since I'll be staying in the Spirit World with Kuchen for a little while, he looked at Katara with a watery smile, why don't you have Zuko fly you home on Appa and then when Zuko flies back to the Fire Nation, I can pick Appa up when Kuchen flies me over on Minh."

"Oh, Aang thank you!" Katara cried and hugged him. It couldn't have been easy for him to give her and Zuko the use of Appa, but at least he was trying to make things right between the two of them again.

"Be safe."Sokka said and hugged Katara close. "I'll see you back at home."

She watched as her brother and friends got onto the back of Minh. She waved. "Bye! Bye everyone! See you all again Soon!"

"Not if I see you first!" Toph cried and waved her hand in front of her face.

She watched them go and kept waving until Minh was just a dot in the sky and then they were gone.

"I guess that's it." Katara said. Are you ready to go?"

"No, there's one more thing I need to do." Zuko said and took her hand and swung it in a distracted sort of way. It was only when he pulled his hand away from hers did she realize that he had slipped something into the palm of her hand. She turned her hand over to see what it was.

"I know it's early, and you're not technically from the Northern Water Tribe, and it's not to replace your mo-"

Katara covered Zuko's mouth with her hand. "It's beautiful Zuko. I love it." She held up the betrothal necklace. It was the blending of a fire lily and a river lily with three curling waves and a flame joined in the middle.

"I carved it myself, Zuko confessed, after Pakku showed me what to do."

Katara took off her mother's necklace and then looked down at it resting in the palm of her hand. It represented so many things. Her gran-gran. Her mother. Her. It represented both her Northern and Southern heritage. It also represented strength and change, and she had done more of that this summer than she ever had in her life, but nothing could change the love she had for her mother. She placed her mother's necklace in her pocket, and then lifted her hair up off of the back of her neck and Zuko took the betrothal necklace and tied it around her.

"There." Zuko said with a smile so wide it almost split his face in half. "Now the world will know that you're the Fire Lord's girl."

"From now" Katara said and stood up on her tiptoes to kiss Zuko. "Until the end of time."


End file.
